Smoke & Mirrors
by Mina144
Summary: Their Mission was simple. Stop Ari and Amanda from getting the sideswipe, but plans have changed. Amanda has a new lesson waiting for Nikita. Can the team stop her before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1: Pins and Needles

**Hi everyone! Okay so I know just posted the Clara Diaries but me and my friend (the same friend helping me with that story) came up with this idea and we just had to write it down. We are so so excited for you guys to read this. Oh and before you do read this the first part is gonna be a little like Season 3 Episode 6: Sideswipe but then after that it's totally different, trust me. Alright I don't want to give anything way so, sit back, relax and enjoy the very first chapter of Smoke & Mirrors.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show Nikita even though I soo wish I did. I mean how awesome would that be?**

**Chapter 1: Pins and Needles**

"So am I clear? Do you understand what you must do?" Amanda asked the man sitting across from her scrutinizing his every move.

He looked at her tenatively. "Don't you think-"

Amanda narrowed her eyes. "I thought you wanted to help him?"

He nodded. "I do but-"

"Do you? Do you really? Because it sounds me like you rather leave him there. We've discussed this, it's not safe for him to be with them. Is that what you want?" Amanda asked her tone venomous.

His eyes widened and he shook his head. "No, of course not. I'll do it. I'll help you."

Amanda smirked. "Good, but first we must test your loyalty." Her cell phone beeped and she took it of her pocket. As she checked her message a wide grin formed on her face. "And I know exactly how you can do that."

"How?"

"I'll explain later." Amanda replied the devious grin never leaving her face. "But let's just say we're going to be paying a little visit to some…..old friends." She laughed. "Won't they be excited."

* * *

Michael walked into the training room where Alex was busy hitting a punching bag. He noticed there was something off about her. Her punches were too hard, too angry…too unfocused and if she wasn't careful she could hurt her arm again. Michael had an idea of what could be making her act this way but he hoped for her sake and Nikita's that he was wrong. Michael frowned as he watched Alex suddenly hit the punching bag wrong and let out a scream of pain.

"Better watch that arm; it's not a hundred percent yet." He said as he walked over to her.

"Yeah, yeah you don't need to lecture me like you're my father or something." Alex retorted, eyes focusing on the punching bag as she continued to hit it. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Alex didn't say anything so he changed the subject. "Have you heard from Sean?"

Alex stopped hitting the bag and glared at him. "Michael, do you really want to talk to me about boys?"

"No," He said after a moment of thought.

"I'm just anxious to get out there, that's all. Any updates on Amanda?" Alex asked him while she began to hit the punching bag again only to stop short when she hurt her arm once more.

"Yes, I just briefed with Ryan. Birkhoff thinks we have a lead on Ari and with Cyrus' help we're gonna use him to get to Amanda."

Alex nodded. "Great, when are we leaving?"

Michael gave her a worried look. "Don't get too anxious…jet leaves in twenty." He gave her one last look and turned away, walking out of the room. Alex stopped hitting the bag and watched him walk away. Frustrated and upset, Alex held her arm close to her body as it throbbed from all the pain. It was all too much to handle. She turned around and walked straight toward her gym bag that laid next to her. Alex knew exactly what she was looking for, she grabbed a blue pill bottle labeled _Sobelex_ and instantly popped one of the pills in her mouth trying to push away the guilt she felt every time she took one.

* * *

As Michael and Nikita began to settle down in the cabin of the plane to go over the con ops again, Alex found herself staring out the small window overlooking the city. Her mind began to drift off. Maybe it was a side effect from all the pills she took, but Alex found herself thinking about the time she went on a walk with Sean in the very park the plane had just flown across. Her head began to swirl and suddenly the memories of the last time she had seen Sean raced across mind.

_"I love you Alex, but if that's not enough of a reason for you to leave, then I have no reason to stay" _

'How could Sean do this to me?' Alex thought to herself. Whatever she did, no matter how many pills she took, Alex couldn't get rid of the emotional pain her heart felt after Sean left her without a single warning or time for her to think about the ultimatum he had just given her. Alex knew she was becoming an addict again but didn't want to admit it. After all Nikita went through with her, and on top of all the things going on with Amanda, the mole and the dirty thirty, Alex felt like her relapse was nothing she couldn't handle on her own. 'Nikita doesn't need to know everything going on in my life', Alex thought. Before she knew it, the plane had arrived in Saint Lucia and Michael was calling her.

"Alex? Alex! We're here. It's time to go... is everything okay?" Michael asked with a worried expression on his face.

"Yeah, I...I was just going over the con ops in my head." Alex replied, hoping Michael would stop hovering over her like an overprotective parent.

Just then Nikita butted in "Here we go! Are you ready Alex?"

"You have no idea!" Alex replied with a smile on her face.

* * *

Everyone was positioned as planned. Nikita and Cyrus were posing as a couple sitting at a table by the bar overlooking the beach, while Michael and Alex hid inside of the building overlooking them. Alex watched the two with binoculars while Michael had a sniper rifle out and ready in case something would go wrong.

"So, how many guys does the general usually roll with?" Nikita asked quietly turning to Cyrus.

"Three, four, five guys since they got the sideswipe." He answered. "Shouldn't be too much trouble once they see how relaxed I am chilling with my lady." He placed his hand over hers and began to stroke it. "We got a couple minutes to kill….at least."

Nikita gave him a look and placed her hand on top of his. Smiling as she pressed down on a hidden button in her hand, a mild shock ran up Cyrus' body as he jolted he quickly took his hand away from hers.

"Was that necessary?" Cyrus asked re-situating himself.

She smiled. "For Michael it was. He's got your head in a rifle scope right now."

Hell yea I do! Michael thought as he aimed the rifle at his head. "Easy there Romeo, can you believe this guy?"

"I've got two suits taking positions on the roof top of the pavilion, Trig must be close." Alex said. "They're packing side arms, maybe a sub gun. I don't know if they have vests but maybe we should switch to ap rounds."

Michael looked at her. "Alex, we knew they would be packing. We're not here to start a fight" He paused a minute then added. "Something wrong?"

"Just keep to your target." Alex replied her eyes not moving from the men.

"You know you've been on edge since we left the plane." Michael commented giving her a worried look. "You want to talk about it? Maybe I could-"

"What? Save me?" Alex finished, removing the binoculars from her face.

"Help." Michael replied softly.

"Why do guys always need to fix, or save, or help?" Alex asked hurt in her tone. Michael continued to give her a concerned look. Something was definitely wrong; he just wished he knew what.

"Look," Cyrus began. "I have no trouble with you getting Amanda or whatever you want….as long as I get what I want."

"And what do you want?" Nikita asked.

"After we get the sideswipe and we get Ari's location." He looked at her. "You let me vanish."

"Give me one good reason." She replied.

He smirked. "Because you owe me."

Nikita laughed and turned to him. "Oh this should be good. How do I owe you Cyrus?"

"You think you're the only person who can track someone through their weapons?" He replied turning to her. Her face remained expressionless. "When you went rogue and declared war on Percy you didn't just pick up a twelve gage from Big 5, that Beretta ARX with AKI scope and modified stock for your petite frame," He glanced at Nikita again but she was looking the other way trying to figure out how he knew all this. "I tracked that particular cocktail through the back channels design to make it untraceable and it led me to…your fabulous loft in Chelsea. Nice pad by the way, favorite lair of yours by far."

"That ARX I got from Travis in June 2010." Nikita replied looking at him. "You're telling me you knew where I was the whole time?"

"The dealer's name was Trevor, it was July and I'm telling you I knew where you were the whole time and I never told a soul." Cyrus told her.

"Why?" Nikita whispered. A waiter walked by and set down their drinks. Cyrus looked down at his drink and saw the word "upstairs" written on a napkin underneath it then leaned back.

"It's go time." He said taking a sip from the glass and getting up. Nikita watched him go with a mixture of confusion and worry etched on her face.

* * *

Nikita watched as two guards searched her and Cyrus for concealed weapons. They knew the protocol. Cyrus' clients weren't messing around. Nikita knew Michael and Alex would have her back if anything went wrong.

"Now, now boys no need to be paranoid." Cyrus said. "We're buying goodies today not wearing them."

"He's clean." said one of the guards. Nikita watched the two men nod at each other before stepping aside to reveal a new man walking towards them. This must be Cyrus' client, Nikita thought to herself, he's the one selling us the sideswipe.

"So, how's that Rhino working out for you?" Cyrus asked as the man stood in front of him.

"Oh, I love it." He said pulling out the gun. "I plan to order a few more from you." He kissed it then pointed it at Cyrus. "Make my day." The two laughed causing Nikita to roll her eyes and look away.

Cyrus turned to her. "Baby you gotta try this out. I'm gonna get you one."

"Oh I'm good, I don't like guns." She replied.

"This one you're gonna love, trust me." He winked at her.

"Let's get down to business." The man said. "We never fully settled on a price." Cyrus took out a pen and grabbed some napkins on the table. Nikita watched him closely as he wrote on one napkin and then strangely stuff it in his pocket. Cyrus then continued to write on a new napkin and hand it over to the client.

The man smiled. "I think that's fair." One of the guards brought over a black case and walked away. The man opened it revealing the sideswipe.

"Nice, mind if I try it?" Cyrus asked.

"Don't have a missile for you to jam but go ahead." He said. Cyrus took out the sideswipe and pressed a few buttons causing the tv behind them to static.

"Signals blocked." Michael said.

Alex looked down at her phone. "So is Cyrus' tracker."

"That's not good." Michael replied putting down his gun. Alex ran out of the building, with Michael following her.

Cyrus places the still active sideswipe back in it's case and looks up at the man.

"All good?" his client asked.

"One problem." Cyrus said closing the case and picking it up.

Nikita glances in his direction as Cyrus points to her.

"She's an Interpol agent. I'm under duress and this meeting is about to get busted. Right now."

Nikita's eyes widened. "Son of a-"

"Take her!" The man yells. A group of guards form and surround Nikita as she tries to fight them off. One man grabs her from behind. Nikita quickly kicks one of the men in the neck while trying to shake off the man behind her. Nikita witnesses Cyrus yelling "No!" at the man pointing his gun at him. Cyrus grabs the gun from his client's hands and hit him in the head with the briefcase containing the sideswipe. Nikita watches as Cyrus runs towards the wall dividing the bar and the beach.

"Good luck." He said waving the gun at Nikita before jumping over it. Angry, Nikita head butts the man holding her from behind and run to the ledge determined to catch up to Cyrus. But before she could reach the ledge, another guard manages to grab her arm pulling her back. Grabbing his tie, Nikita shoves him forward punching him in the face before turning him around in a chokehold with his own tie. Just then another guard runs toward her. Thinking quickly, Nikita grabs a glass bottle from the table next to her and smashes it in the man's face. He falls back just as Michael and Alex arrive to help Nikita. The two began attacking the rest of the men while Nikita throws the last guard in her way on a table. Finally having a clear path, Nikita runs to the ledge, tosses off her shoes and jumped over the wall.

Meanwhile, Alex pins a man to a table and begins to repeatedly punching him the face. Michael had just thrown a guy to the floor and looked over at her. He saw the guard she was attacking had already been knocked out but Alex would not stop her repeated blows to the poor man's face.

"He's down!" Michael yelled looking at her a mix of confusion and worry on his face. Alex didn't answer or listen to Michael. She was too enveloped with rage to stop herself. "What the hell are you-" Michael cut himself off and ran to Alex, attempting to pull her off of the man. Alex screamed trying to get him to let go of her, she had such an intense need to let out all her built up anger.

"Come on!" Michael yelled pulling on Alex harder as she continued to struggle underneath his arms. "Come on!" Alex couldn't stop herself. With one last strong pull, Michael successfully manages to lift the unstable girl to her feet as her tries to lead her towards the ledge to jump after Nikita.

Unfortunately by the time Nikita had gotten to where Cyrus was he was already gone. The only trace of him was the Rhino gun sticking out of the sand. Nikita grabs it just as Michael and Alex run up to her.

"He has the sideswipe." Michael huffed looking at Nikita.

Nikita looked down at the gun. "And we don't have him."

* * *

Amanda looked at her laptop with a wide grin on her face. She had just gotten some new information from her mole. Amanda quickly typed back the next set of instructions. Nikita needs to be taught a new lesson, she thought to herself, I have the perfect one in mind. Once she had finished instructing her mole of the new assignment, Amanda sat back in her chair and pulled out her cell phone to check on the weather in Hawaii.

At that moment Anne walked into the room. "is everything clear?"

Amanda smirked. "Yes…everything is perfectly clear inside division." Not even a chance of rain, Amanda joked to herself.

* * *

Nikita, Michael and Alex had just returned from the disastrous mission in Saint Lucia. Cyrus was gone and he had the sideswipe. The team stepped out of the car upon arriving in Division with mixed expressions on their faces. They couldn't believe Cyrus had tricked them. He could be anywhere now. They were just about to head to the elevator when it opened up revealing a worried yet annoyed Birkhoff.

"What the hell happened?" Birkhoff asked looking between the three

"Cyrus got away, we should have never trusted him!" Alex replied angrily before walking into the elevator. Nikita and Michael glanced at each other worriedly.

"What's her problem?" Birkhoff said watching as the elevator door closed.

Michael sighed. "I think I may have an idea….I'll go talk to her."

Nikita shook her head. "Maybe I should do it. We haven't really had a chance to-"

But before Nikita could finish her sentence, Sonya came rushing in the room. "I found Amanda!"

**Gasp! Who was Amanda talking to in the beginning? What is she planning? And double gasp! Sonya found her! But is it that a good thing? Or bad thing? Looks like you'll have to wait and see ;) Anyways, please review and tell me what you guys think! Oh and thanks for reading :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Sink or Swim

**Hi again! Thank's for all the reviews for the first chapter! You guys rock! Alright here's our new chapter! Enjoy :)**

**Btw what do you guys think of the custom design poster my friend made for the story? **

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Nikita. If I did Mikita would be happy right now. **

**Chapter 2: Sink or Swim  
**

Nikita followed Sonya and Birkhoff into ops where they found Ryan pacing back and forth.

"What do you mean you found Amanda?" Nikita asked

Ryan looked up at her and nodded towards Sonya, "Go ahead, tell her what you found."

"Well, I was going through the list of Amanda's inventory from Luxembourg, and I found an electronic recipe-"

Ryan interrupted, "Sonya get to the point." Nikita rolled her eyes at him, Ryan was always interrupting people.

"It lead me to a location in Spain, I believe she is still there." Sonya finished explaining.

"Are you sure she hasn't packed up and left yet?" Nikita questioned.

Suddenly Cyrus's tracker information popped up on the monitors behind her.

"Cyrus must have handed over the sideswipe to Ari" Birkhoff simply stated, as he pressed a couple buttons on his tablet. "His location matches Amanda's, they're in Spain."

"Okay, what's the plan Nikita?" Ryan asked.

Nikita looked at everyone in the room. "We go after Amanda, and we burn her house down!"

"What about Cyrus?"

Nikita thought about it for a second, something didn't add up. "Why would Cyrus leave his tracker on and lead us to Amanda?"

"Maybe it's a trap?" Birkhoff asked, while glancing at Sonya. She looked away.

"Maybe Cyrus wanted us to find Amanda." Sonya said.

"Well we better find Michael and Alex and explain to them what's going on, I'll go find them." Nikita said

"No, you stay here and come up with a plan with Sonya and Birkhoff. I'll go find them." replied Ryan.

* * *

Amanda looked up from her laptop. Her mole had just informed her phase one was completed. She smiled, "Nikita thinks she can run Division without selling her soul. She's wrong. She's going to have to sacrifice more than she could ever imagine. That is the lesson she needs to learn."

"How will she learn it?" Anne asked.

"The same way she's learned everything she knows. I teach her."

Anne only looks at Amanda then glances toward Cyrus and Ari. "Is he part of your lesson plan?"

"Yes, but he's not the only one Nikita should be worried about." Amanda says with a devious glint in her eyes.

* * *

Alex was walking toward medical when suddenly her head began to swirl again. She felt dizzy and had to hold herself up against a wall. "What is happening to me?" Alex said to herself quietly.

_"You feel weak, you're angry because you feel weak"_

"No" It couldn't be. Amanda was in her head.

"_You have the right to feel that way. You're an addict. You're not the only one in Division. That is why we do random searches."_

_"_I'm not an addict, it's just one pill. For my shoulder." Alex was talking to herself. She continued to walk toward medical.

_"I didn't have any"_ Alex saw her old recruit self say to Amanda.

_"But you wanted to, you will always want to and sometimes that need will become rage. You can use that Alex."_

Alex couldn't take it anymore; she angrily pushed open the doors to medical and pushed a medical supply cart over, creating a loud mess.

Michael came rushing in after her, finding Alex sitting down against the wall crying. "What happened?"

Alex looked up at him, panic in her eyes. "Michael! I'm sorry, I tripped. I'm so embarrassed."

Michael looked at her with a sad expression, "Listen Alex, we need to talk."

Alex tried to change the subject. "Shouldn't you be with Nikita, trying to find Cyrus again?"

"Yes, but I'm more concerned with you."

"I'm a big girl, Michael. I can take care of myself."

"I know that but-"

"There you guys are!" Ryan interrupted.

Michael glared at him, "Ryan can we have a minute?"

"No, we're done here. What is it Ryan?" Alex asked.

Ryan looked at the two of them then glanced down at the medical supply cart that was laying on the ground. "We found Amanda and Cyrus, Nikita needs you two in ops right now. I'll uh, have someone come clean this up later."

Alex only nodded then walked out of the room leaving Michael and Ryan behind.

"Is she okay?" Ryan asked.

"She's just having a tough time getting over Sean I guess."

"Okay then, make sure this-" Ryan glances at the mess on the ground "-doesn't happen again."

Michael nodded, while following Ryan out the door. _"I made a promise to Alex when she was a recruit. I won't let anything happen to her."_ Michael reminded himself. _"I promise you Alex, we will get to the bottom of this. You can't keep running away from your problems."_

* * *

"No he's Team Cyrus, he made that very clear…" Nikita trailed off suddenly remembering something Cyrus had said.

"_I have no trouble with you getting Amanda or whatever you want….as long as I get what I want."_

"Well he left us with zero." She heard Birkhoff say. "Just a gun."

Nikita looked at him. _"That's right."_ She thought. _"He left the gun…."_

"_You're gonna love this one, trust me." _

Her eyes widened. The gun! "Wait a minute….that's it!"

Birkhoff looked at her confused. "What is it-wait Nikki where are you-"

"No time Birkhoff, just follow me." She told him running past the door just as Alex walked through looking confused.

"What just happened?" She asked.

"No idea, hurry follow us." Birkhoff said as he and Sonya went to follow Nikita. Alex was still really confused but she followed them anyway, knowing whatever Nikita was up to it was probably important. As Alex turned around to follow the two, she ran into Michael and Ryan walking toward her with worried expressions on their faces.

Michael looked at Alex. "What's-"

"Don't know, follow Birkhoff." Alex replied quickly. The two nodded and followed along.

* * *

Nikita quickly walked into the garage where the car was still parked. Michael, Alex, Birkhoff, Sonya and Ryan quickly came in after her._ Why didn't I notice this sooner? _She thought as she opened the trunk revealing the gun Cyrus had left for her to find. She opened up the cylinder revealing the bullets. Nikita smiled, a napkin was held in place of one of the bullets.

"Son of a-" She whispered smiling as she pulled out the napkin.

"You get what you want, I get what I want." Nikita said unfolding the napkin. "Krilov Industries." She handed the note to Birkhoff who read it confused.

"You owe me twice? What does that mean?" He asked showing everyone the note that read:

Ari Krilov 1-1-1830 U Owe Me Twice!

"Krilov? Where is that?" Michael asked.

"Ari's headed to Romania." Nikita answered smiling.

"Great, we grab him and stop him before he can sell it to the Russians for more profit." Alex said.

Nikita smiled at her protégé, "Yes, so let's make a plan."

"Wait, so why exactly do you owe Cyrus?" Birkhoff asked as they walked back to ops.

"Didn't you already ask that?" Sonya said with a smile.

"Yeah, but no one bothered to answer me." Birkhoff retorted giving Nikita a look.

Nikita rolled her eyes. "That's bec-"

"We need to focus on finding Amanda; we can talk about this later." Ryan stated as they reached the round table. Nikita looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Do you like interrupting people?" Birkhoff asked sarcastically. Ryan gave him a confused look not noticing the smirks on everyone faces.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait!" Cyrus exclaims. Amanda doesn't even flinch as she takes a knife and buries it deep inside his right shoulder. "I told her. She knows about Romania. She knows about Ari's deal."

Amanda leans into him and smiles. "I think deep down you're more like your father than you want to admit." Cyrus looks down. "I can see it. There's good in you. And I'm betting Nikita saw it too." Cyrus continues to look away, not daring to meet the crazy woman in the eyes. Amanda only continues to smile "Now this is something I can work with."

Amanda turns around to face Anne behind a camera. "You see Anne, I told you an opportunity would present itself."

Anne nods, while Cyrus looks up at them feeling defeated. Amanda walks over to the corner of the room to meet a mysterious man in the shadows. "Do you remember what we discussed? You know what to do right?"

The man looks at her. "Yes, it is the only way to save him. I know what to do."

Amanda smiles, "Proceed with phase two."

* * *

"Okay, what's our plan?" Michael asks.

Alex grabbed a pen and paper, "Okay so according to Birkhoff's map, Krilov Industries is in an abandoned warehouse", she began. Nikita looked over Alex's shoulder as she started to draw out the floor plans.

"Good, this means it'll be easier to raid. We need to grab Ari and the sideswipe before the Russians get there." Michael said.

"I can get an Alpha team in there" Nikita answered him. He stared back at her smiling. "Michael, you need to guard that door" Nikita said as she pointed to a spot on Alex's drawing.

Alex then proceeded to draw a stick figure representing Michael at the spot Nikita pointed to on her floor plan.

Nikita couldn't help but laugh at Alex's childish stick figure.

"What?" Alex said innocently at her mentor.

"Is that supposed to be Michael?"

"Yeah"

"And who's that on the roof?" Nikita asked pointing to a new figure Alex had drawn with two strands of long hair.

"Me of course" Alex smiled.

"Good, I need you on that roof."

"Got it" She replied.

_"Gold Star" _Nikita smiled to herself as she placed a hand on Alex's back and nodded her approval before stepping around her to talk to Birkhoff.

"Hey Nerd, the mole can not get wind of this ok? Where are you on the hunt?"

"Tracking the source has been tough, but I did solve a big piece of the puzzle though."

"What?" Michael asked.

"The messages aren't being sent in real time," Birkhoff explained. "They're on a 30 minute delay."

Michael and Alex stared at him until Ryan interrupted with an important message.

"Guys, we just intercepted a video call on a private relay." The team stared at him. "It's Amanda." That got their attentions.

"Amanda wants to chat?" Nikita asks.

"Start a trace" Ryan tells Birkhoff.

There was no point in tracing Amanda, they already knew where she was but Birkhoff didn't want to argue with the boss. "Trace already in progress" he stated.

Nikita looks up at the screen as Amanda's face pops up. "Hello Nikita, I'm sorry I missed you in Luxembourg but I had urgent business elsewhere."

"Oh no doubt," Nikita says as she walks around the round table to face Amanda better. "You had to find some new rat trap to hold up in?"

Amanda laughs. "My new home is quite comfortable, thank you. In fact, I have my very first house guest right here. A friend of yours." She steps out of the way to reveal Cyrus tied up and bleeding on a chair. "Say hello to Cyrus."

Nikita, Michael and Alex all stare at the screen trying not to show any emotion. "He's no friend of mine." Nikita says.

Amanda doesn't buy this. "Really now, Cyrus tells me a different story. He mentioned what you two talked about back in Division."

Nikita shrugs. "It wasn't really that interesting."

"Then this should be easy. You tell me what Cyrus is holding back and I give him the gift of a quick death. Or I find out the truth my way. Your choice."

Nikita is unmoved by this. "Do me a favor Amanda, keep those ropes tight, he's slippery." She turns around and cuts the video feed off.

Michael, Alex and Birkhoff wait patiently for Nikita to say something.

Ryan turns around and looks at Nikita. "He could've told her something false and spared himself the pain."

"That pain is going to buy him time. I'm going after him." Nikita looks to Birkhoff. "Where?"

"Tracker still says they're in Spain."

"Nikita, it's a trap, Amanda is luring you there. She kept his tracker online." Michael says.

"Michael, I owe him."

"He made his choices"

"I know, that's why I have to go get him"

"I'll go with you" Alex jumps in.

"Hold on" Ryan interrupts. "Nikita you know I can't authorize this. I won't stop you but I can't send a team with you."

"Yeah I know. I'm going alone."

Michael and Alex look at her. "No you're not." He says giving her an _I got your back_ look. She smiles and turns around to face Ryan again.

"Okay you can't be in Spain and Romania at the same time. Your plan to get Ari and the sideswipe is good. You designed it. Who's going to carry it out?" Ryan says.

Nikita looks at him. Alex's voice echoes behind her. "I'll do it." Nikita turns around to face Alex now. "I can prep a team and be wheels up in an hour. I am just dying to say hello to Ari."

"Alright. It's decided," Nikita says. "Let's do it."

Alex walks out the door, while Michael looks on with a worried face. Nikita follows her.

Ryan looks at Michael.

"I know. I'll make sure they're covered." Ryan looks at him again, not quite convinced. "Both of them" Michael reassures him, as Ryan nods in agreement.

* * *

Alex was preparing all her weapons for the mission in Romania when Nikita walked up to her.

"Hey"

"Hey Nikita."

"Are you sure you can handle this mission on your own?"

Alex looked up at her surprised. "I won't be alone. I'll have full alpha team support as backup. And besides, I'm the one that should really be worried about you." She says with a smile.

Nikita smiles back at her. Even during a serious mission, Alex always found time to make a situation lighthearted. "That's not what I meant, Alex."

Her happy expression was replaced with a somber one. "I know, I'm sorry. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Nikita couldn't help but have a bad feeling about Alex. She had noticed her protégé's mood swings lately has been a little all over the place. Alex senses Nikita staring at her and tries to lighten up the mood again before her mentor could pry into more of her personal life.

"So here we go?"

"Here we go again." Nikita responds with a smile at the sound of their special saying. _"Here we go again Alex, I hope this is the last mission... and you stay safe. See you when this is all over with." _Nikita thought to herself while she watched Alex walk out of the room. _"Here we go again."_

**Uh oh what's Amanda up to? Beware, it's coming in chapter three. So who do you guys think Mr. Mysterious Man is? And is just me or does Ryan interrupt people like way too much? Please review and tell us what you think. If you do you'll get a gold star! **


	3. Chapter 3: Subduction Zone

**Alright everyone here it is chapter 3: Subduction Zone! Are you ready? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita, but I do own Mr. Mysterious Man. I still want the show though. **

**Chapter 3: Subduction Zone **

Michael and Nikita had just arrived outside of the church in Spain they believe Amanda is hiding in.

Michael was on his phone, he promised himself and Ryan that nothing would happen to Alex. "No, we're in Spain she's in Romania." He pauses as Nikita crouches down next to him, giving him a worried look. "Yeah that's right." Michael continues. "Do you have the coordinates…No trust me, thank you."

"All good?" Nikita asks. "I'm just worried about Alex."

"Don't worry about her, she'll be okay." He answered. "How are you?"

"I'll be fine." She replied. "Whatever happens I'm glad you're here."

"Please, you know I love Spain." He says sarcastically.

Nikita smiles, "I know, I pushed too hard on this."

"Alright, do me one favor, if Amanda really is in there, push harder. Kill the bitch."

Nikita nods as they both prepare to raid the church.

* * *

Nikita and Michael enter the church. No one is inside so they move toward the catacombs where they find Cyrus still tied to a chair. Nikita notices a bomb underneath his seat. Cyrus looks up at her.

"Where is she?" Nikita demands.

"She's gone."

"_No"_ She thought to herself.

"You really shouldn't have come for me."

Nikita shakes her head and stares at the bomb.

"How's it wired? Pressure plates?" Michael questions.

"No. No, it's remote." Cyrus responds, knowing there's no way they can save him. "She wanted to be the one" he says as he looks up toward a camera mounted in the ceiling.

Nikita realizes Amanda isn't there. "Michael, it's a trap."

"Nikita" He says trying to calm her down. "You don't know that."

"I have to warn Alex!"

* * *

Alex and her team enter the abandon warehouse in Romania.

"Target reached, moving in." Alex tells Ryan in ops over her coms.

"Okay Alex, we got you in view. Hold positions."

Alex looks around and has a bad feeling. "Ops we got an empty nest here."

"Alex! BE CAREFUL! We can't find Amanda, something isn't right." Nikita exclaims in her ear.

"What?" Alex tries to hear what Nikita is warning her but Ari had just turned on the sideswipe.

"ALEX!?" Nikita screams.

"Ops, signal is lost!"

Suddenly, a line of bullets comes raining down. Alex realizes she is being under attack and quickly jumps behind some cover. Ari was prepared for this, he knew Alex would be here but how? Alex couldn't understand what was happening. Her head started to swirl again as she took in the sights surrounding her. One by one her team members were dropping like flies.

* * *

Ryan is panicking in ops. "Get Alex back online. Now!"

"I can't." Birkhoff told him. "Ari must have the sideswipe on. I don't know how he knew we were coming." He looks at Sonya. "Do you have any ideas?"

Sonya looks away unable to look him in the eyes and shakes her head. "No, I don't know. Excuse me I have to go." She gets up to leave. Birkhoff becomes suspicious and decides to follow her.

"Where are you going? Get back here!" Ryan demands.

Birkhoff turns around angrily. "I have to deal with this!"

* * *

Birkhoff finds Sonya on sub level 9. He confronts her. "Sonya, what's going on? You can tell me anything."

"This is all my fault." She cries. Birkhoff moves closer to her placing his hands on her shoulders.

"What are you talking about?" He asks. Sonya starts rambling but Birkhoff can't understand a word she says. "Slow down, start from the beginning."

"A few weeks ago I was walking to my apartment and someone grabbed me. Anne, the cleaner. She pulled me inside of her van. Amanda, she reactivated my kill chip."

"Stop, stop I don't believe you." Birkhoff says in denial thinking to himself. _"She can't be the mole."_

Sonya looks at Birkhoff and can sense what he's thinking. She starts crying. "I'm Amanda's mole. I'm so sorry. I had no choice."

"Amanda's not here, so she can't know if you asked for help which you never did." He shouts at her.

"There's someone else inside. She told me there was someone else and that they'd be watching. And in Division there is always someone watching."

Birkhoff shook his head. "You can't know that's true."

"I can't know that it isn't." She replied worry and fear etched in her eyes. "She has me restricted. I have to send her an update every two hours. I haven't slept the night in weeks. If I even walk in the direction of medical which Amanda gas bombed, by the way as a warning to me. Her spy will see and tell her and she will trigger the chip and I will drop-"

"Okay, okay alright." Birkhoff stopped her understanding the mess she was in.

"I wanted to tell you." Sonya begged. "I wanted to warn everyone. I'm sorry about putting Alex and Nikita in danger. I didn't know what Amanda had planned. I was only following orders."

"What did Amanda tell you to do?" He asked.

"I was given instructions to leak her location, that's how I found her. She's not in Spain."

He looked at her confused. "Then where is she?"

* * *

"Ops? Come in this is Alex, we're under attack!" There was only static. She looks up to see Ari smiling down at her from the second floor of the warehouse. "We're trapped!" She yells to her alpha team. "Is there any way out?" No one replies to her, they were all too busy trying to dodge the endless bullets coming right at them.

Another one of her comrades gets shot and falls back down next to her. "Alex!" He says.

Alex could no longer focus, her mind was in a million different places. "Alex! What do we do?"

She looks down at her fallen agents, suddenly aware again and shakes her head to clear her mind. In one last ditch effort, Alex grabs 2 guns and springs into action. It was a bold move, but Alex ran straight into the line of fire and aimed her weapons in Ari's direction; shooting until all the men on the terrace protecting him was dead and her bullets had run out. Slightly panicking, Alex ran to find more cover until she could figure out her next move. She had no more weapons and by now all the members of her alpha team was dead.

Alex sighed, ready to give up. Ari's men had her surrounded. _"This is it"_ Alex thought, _"I'm going to die in here."_

She leaned back against her cover and let her mind rest. She could hear Ari's men shouting at her. "She's over there! Get her!" There was more bullet sounds bouncing off of metal walls.

Suddenly the sound of screams brought her back to reality. She saw one of Ari's men dropping from the terrace. _"How did-"_ More men were crashing down around her. "_What is going on?"_ Alex couldn't believe what was happening.

She looked up at the ceiling and saw a man hanging from a rope shooting in Ari's direction. He was like a guardian angel sent to protect her. "_Who is that?"_

Alex tried to see who it was but her vision was blurry. Her head was starting to get dizzy. Alex got up from her hiding spot and stumbled toward the figure who had just dropped down from his suspended height. "Sean?" Alex questioned when she saw him.

He looked at her, immediately noticing Alex's clumsy state. She tripped, and his arms reached out to steady her.

Alex looked into his eyes. "Sean...how?"

"Michael said you might need some backup" Sean replied to her.

"I was- we were under attack. Everyone is dead? Ari?"

"Ari got away but I managed to shoot the sideswipe." He says, speaking into his com "I got her, Alex is safe."

"Good, bring her back to Division, Sean. I'll tell Nikita she's safe." She heard Ryan say over the coms.

"You. You were like an Angel with a shotgun." Alex said in amazement.

Sean looked at her. He didn't know what was wrong with her.

Alex suddenly poked him in the face "You're real!"

"What?" He says clearly confused.

She hugs him and takes a deep breath "You came back for me?"

Sean sighs as he holds her. He loved Alex but he still meant what he told her earlier. "Listen Alex, Michael called and said you might need some backup. That's it. I was just doing my job."

Alex pushes herself away from him and shakes her head. Realizing what this meant, She became angry.

"Oh okay I get it." She says trying to hide the hurt in her voice, but her eyes tell a different story.

Sean wants to say something, anything. He hated seeing her this way.

Alex quickly looks around then looks back to Sean, "I'm going after Ari. He can still lead us to Amanda."

"No, Alex it's too dangerous alone"

"Well good thing I have you for backup right?" She states coldly.

Sean can only nod. There was no stopping Alex once she made up her mind and part of him still wanted to protect her.

"Ari can't be that far, let's search the building for clues."

"Okay, here take this gun" He hands her a small handgun

"Thanks" She replies. "Maybe we should split up"

"No, Alex... I don't think that's a good idea."

"I can take care of myself Sean! I don't need you to babysit me" Alex yells at him.

Sean is taken aback by her. "I know, but-"

Alex stops him short, "Why did you come here? You had left Division. You were free!"

He couldn't think of an answer. When Michael had called him and said Alex was in danger, he dropped everything and hopped on a plane to Romania. Sean looks down. Alex was waiting for his response.

"Okay Alex. Let's split up."

Alex looked at him slightly upset. He had chosen the wrong words again.

He watched her walk away from him.

* * *

Amanda was sitting at a desk when Anne walked up to her.

"Nikita is in Spain with Cyrus right now. She's discovered the bomb" She shows Amanda a tablet with a video feed of the scene. "Do you want to talk to her now?"

Amanda looks up at her. "No, not yet. I'm waiting for an old friend to show up first."

Anne nods at her and walks out of the room.

Amanda picks up her phone to check on the last message the mole had sent her before she had left Spain.

It read: Alex is prepping for a mission. More details soon.

"Old news." Amanda looks unamused.

* * *

Alex reached into her jacket and pulled out a pill she was saving and swallowed it quickly. _"This should get rid of the headaches for a bit"_ She thought.

Regaining her focus, Alex crept slowly up the stairs of the abandoned warehouse checking every corner.

"Come in Alex, did you find anything yet?" Sean's voice was calling her over the coms.

"No, did you?"

"Not yet"

"Okay, I'll let you know if I find anything." She replied switching her com over to another channel, "Hey Nikita can you hear me?"

Nikita was relieved to hear Alex's voice again. "Alex, thank god you're alright."

"I'm fine. How's your end?"

"Amanda isn't here. Michael and I are staring right at Cyrus and a bomb."

"A bomb? What are you still doing there? Get out!"

"I can't leave Cyrus here, I owe him. He said Amanda would be watching us from a camera. I see one mounted on the wall. I think she wants to chat."

"How long are you going to wait for her to chat?" Alex questioned, knowing Nikita wasn't going anywhere.

"However long it takes I guess. Michael is trying to figure out a way to disarm the bomb right now. There has to be a way."

Alex walked up another flight of stairs to the 3rd level of the building. She heard some noises coming from down the hallway. "Hey Nikita, I gotta go."

"Okay Alex, be careful!"

Alex switches back to the main channel to talk to Sean. "3rd floor"

"Got it." He replies.

Alex was outside of the door ready to face what was behind it. _"Here we go!"_ She thought to herself as she pushed the door open,

"Amanda!"

"Hello Alex." Amanda smiled at her. "I was expecting you."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh Alex, you need to work on your greeting skills"

Alex points her gun at Amanda. "How's this for a greeting?"

Amanda's smile disappears. "Is that any way to treat an old friend?" She says stepping closer to her.

"We were never friends!" Alex remains unmoved.

"I beg to differ."

Alex's eyes narrowed.

"You see Alex; friends can tell when other friends are in trouble. When they've been acting strange. Or more importantly when they have relapsed. Has Nikita noticed yet? I meant the signs are pretty clear. Look at yourself Alex. You're a mess."

Alex was shocked. "Stop playing games, Amanda."

"I know you Alex. You're an addict."

"No"

"Look in the mirror Alex!" She says pointing to a mirror to the side of the room.

Alex glances at it and shakes her head. "I'm not an addict", she whispers quietly.

"Look closer Alex."

For a moment, Alex looks at herself closer in the mirror. She hadn't even noticed a man in a hood creeping up behind her.

"Alex what do you see?"

Suddenly Alex sees a shadow behind her and turns around quickly aiming her gun at the intruder.

He knocks the gun out of her hand and she counters with a punch to the face, knocking his hood off and revealing his face.

"NERD!?" Alex screams in surprise when she sees the man's face.

He doesn't move or respond to her.

Alex is confused when out of nowhere Anne appears behind her and knocks her unconscious.

* * *

Sean was rushing up 3 flights of stairs when he overheard struggle over his com.

"ALEX!?" No response. _"I shouldn't have left her alone. We should've never split up." _

"I'm sorry Alex, I'm coming for you!" He says out loud.

When Sean finally reaches the top floor, he spots Anne and a man in a hood carrying what looks like an unconscious Alex out of a fire escape.

"ALEX!" Sean screams again. He rushes toward the door, slamming it open. _"Where did they go?"_ Sean looks around frantically.

Gunshots fired in his direction. Sean ducks. When he heard the gunshots stop he got up and saw Anne reloading her gun. He quickly fired in her direction, and she ran toward something for cover.

"Get back here bitch!" Sean shouted at her as he ran down the fire escape determined to catch up with her.

When he reached ground level, his eye caught the sight of the man in the hood pulling Alex's limp body into a van.

"NO!" He shouted. Sean ran toward the van firing shots.

The man in the hood quickly jumped in the back of the van with Alex and shut the door yelling "GO!"

Anne rolled down the window of the van and shot Sean in the leg, making him fall to the ground. He screamed in pain.

"Alex no!" Sean yelled as he watched Anne swerve the van around to reveal Amanda sitting in the passenger's seat.

"SEAN! Status now!" He heard Ryan call in his ear. "What's happening? We heard gunshots."

Sean couldn't move his leg, he watched in agonizing pain as Amanda drove off with the girl he loved. "Alex is gone! Amanda has her!"

**Whaaaat Nerd is working with Amanda O.o and she has Alex! Wth is going on! Guess you'll just have to read and find out ;) Oh and if you noticed Alex called Sean Angel with a Shotgun? Sound familiar? That's probably cuz it's the song by the Cab! And if you like them and Nikita and Salex please check out this awesome vid called Sean & Alex: Angel with a Shotgun my friend made on YouTube. (Detes are on my profile page) It's awesome! Oh and please review and tell us what you think! Thanks! **


	4. Chapter 4: Catch 22

**Hi guys! Okay so I thought I'd say a few things before ya'll read the next chapter. First off I just want to say this is a Nikita/Alex friendship story. Sorry for those who thought otherwise but there are still plenty of Nikita and Alex friendship moments in this story so if you love those then please continue reading! Secondly My friend and I just want to say thank you for all the reviews. You guys are awesome! Alright, now is the moment you all have been waiting for: Chapter 4! So, sit back, relax and enjoy! :)  
**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Nikita. *Sigh***

**Chapter 4: Catch 22**

Birkhoff was still staring at Sonya confused. "Where's Amanda?" He asked again.

It was quiet on sub level 9. "Don't worry, no one will hear us. You can tell me."

His arms still held onto her shoulders in a reassuring gesture. His touch calmed her, Sonya took a deep breath and began to tell her story.

"She told me she had a plan." Sonya began. "That I was supposed to leak her location for you to find her, but it was all a trap. She flew to Romania the moment I updated her, Nikita was headed her way. She knew Alex would be in Romania too."

"Is Alex part of her plan?" Birkhoff asked worriedly.

"She wouldn't tell me but her instructions were clear." Sonya replied. "Make sure Alex goes to Romania and Nikita goes to Spain."

His eyes widened in fear. "We have to warm Alex!"

Sonya shook her head sadly. "It's too late. Alex can't be saved".

"No." He replied quietly unable to believe what was going on. "We will save her and we will save you too." A lone tear fell down Sonya's cheek but Birkhoff quickly wiped it away and pulled her into a hug. "I promise."

* * *

"What do you mean Alex is gone!" Ryan yelled worriedly listening to Sean yell over his coms as he paced back and forth in ops. _"How can Alex be gone?_" Ryan thought. _"We had everything worked out and a backup team. What's going on?"_

"Amanda took her! We have to save her!" Sean screamed in his ear.

Ryan froze. _"No, this can't be happening"._ He thought. He stood there paled face for what felt like forever until he heard a moan of pain coming from the other end of his coms.

"Sean? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"My leg. Anne shot me when I tried going after them." Sean groaned. "I can't move it."

"Alright, I'm sending an extraction team to come help you." Ryan told him motioning an agent over. _"Where the hell are Birkhoff and Sonya?" _He thought knowing they would need them. They had to find Amanda before it was too late.

"But Alex, we have to save Alex!" Sean replied his voice laced with pain.

Ryan sighed. "We will, but we need to get you help first or you'll bleed to death."

* * *

As Anne quickly drove away, Amanda relaxed in her seat and looked over her shoulder. She smiled down at an unconscious Alex sprawled out on the floor of the van. "Phase two completed." She told the man in the hood. "Good job."

He looked up at her clearly conflicted. "She's just a girl. Why did we have to capture her alive?"

"Alex isn't just any girl. She's the key to helping your friend. You still want to help him right? Alex will lead us to him."

Anne looked at Amanda knowing this wasn't all Alex was being used for. "So now that your old friend is here, is it time to chat with Nikita?"

Amanda held up her tablet and saw Nikita pacing back and forth wondering what was going on.

She heard Nikita yelling through her coms. "Hold on Ryan, talk slower! What happened?"

As she watched the scene unfold before her, Amanda couldn't help but smile. "I think it's time to say hello"

* * *

"Alex is gone?" Nikita questioned Ryan. She couldn't believe this.

"That's what Sean told us, he said he saw Anne and a mysterious man in a hood pull her inside of a van with Amanda and drive off."

"Why didn't he stop them!?" Nikita yelled.

"Nikita! Calm down, I'm sure Sean tried everything he could to save her." Michael said, trying to convince her. "Who was this man in the hood? Another dirty thirty?"

"Sean was shot in the leg and wasn't mobile." Ryan began to explain. "He did try everything he could. Don't blame him. As for the man in the hood, we don't know yet. His face was hidden."

Nikita tried to calm down. Ryan was right, it wasn't Sean's fault. "It's my fault."

"No, Nikita. It's no one's fault, we couldn't have predicted this would happen. Let's focus on getting Alex back."

Nikita nods her head and stares at the bomb under Cyrus's seat.

Michael turns to her and whispers "If we get any closer, we're in the blast radius."

"Nikita, just go!" Cyrus yells at her.

"No I can't!"

At this moment the television screen next to Cyrus flickered to life.

"It's Amanda, she must want to chat now." Michael says.

"Then lets chat." Nikita replies.

Amanda's face appears on the screen, "Hello Nikita."

Nikita stared at her.

"So glad you could make it. And I see you brought your fiancée, what a nice surprise. Congratulations you two."

"Where's Alex?" Nikita yells.

"She's right here." Amanda pans down her tablet to show Alex still unconscious. "Don't worry, she's safe with me."

"Nikita, the bomb" Michael reminds her.

"There's no way to disarm the bomb on site" Amanda states. "What's the hurry to leave? Sit tight Nikita, I have a new lesson for you."

"What's the point of a test I can't pass?"

"It's not a test. It's a lesson. The first of many. This one is simple. To stop me, you're going to have to sacrifice the people you care about. Even the ones you care about just a little, like Cyrus there."

Nikita glances at Cyrus who looks up at her.

"As a bonus, I'll return Alex to you as a reward." Amanda says.

Nikita tries to show no emotion. She won't let Amanda have the satisfaction of her breaking down. Nikita stares at the image of Alex on the screen. _"I have to stay strong."_

"If you really wanted to teach me a lesson, why aren't you here?"

"It's not in the lesson plan. Not this time. I'll give you twenty seconds." Amanda replies.

"Nikita we have to go." Michael tells her. "She has Alex."

"No, I'm not leaving."

"Listen to Michael." Cyrus says. "She will kill you and believe me or not that would upset me very much. Now please go."

Nikita shakes her head. "No." _I can't let Amanda kill Cyrus but I can't let her take Alex either. What I do? _She looks back at Amanda who was watching her, waiting for her next move. She stares at her a moment when the realization hits_._"I get it now, the lesson. The things we care about can hurt us so the trick is not to care." Amanda grins nodding. An idea forms in her head, it's risky but she has to do it. _"It's the only way" _She runs in front of Cyrus and looks directly at Amanda.

"Nikita!" Michael exclaims. "No!"

"Let's see how well you learn." Nikita tells her. "What are you waiting for?"

Amanda looks at her, confliction in her eyes.

"Do it!" Nikita yells.

Amanda huffs, frustrated as she glances at Anne, the man in the hood and Alex before looking back at Nikita.

"Do it!" Nikita yells again. Cyrus closes his eyes in defeat while Michael looks from Nikita to Amanda fear in his eyes. Amanda stares at Nikita angrily as she turns off the bomb and shuts off the screen.

Michael, Nikita and Cyrus all sigh in relief but its short lived once they remember Amanda still has Alex and that she is in danger.

* * *

Amanda's van had just pulled up to what looks like an old abandon ward. Ari came out to greet her.

"Hello Dear, how was the lesson plan?" He said.

Amanda was in no mood for chit-chat. She was still upset at Nikita for pulling that little stunt of hers. She should've blown them all up. "It didn't go exactly as planned."

Ari looked at her confused.

"But not to fret, we still have Alex." Amanda says as she gestures toward Anne and the man in the hood hauling Alex's limp body out of the van. "Bring her inside!"

They nod at her. Ari looks back to Amanda with a conflicted gaze. "What are you going to do with her now that Nikita has ruined your plans?"

"Who says my plans are ruined?"

Ari raises an eyebrow and stares at her.

Amanda gives a devious smile, "I choose to look at this like a new opportunity. Our friend, Alex is going to help me teach Nikita a new lesson."

* * *

Alex finally woke up and realized she was strapped down to a medical chair. _"What the hell-"_

"Where am I?" Alex calls out, but no one responds to her. She was completely alone in a dark room facing a long mirror.

On the opposite side of the mirror, Anne watched her with a careful eye from another room. As far as Alex knew, that mirror wasn't a one-way window.

"Amanda?" Alex calls out again. "Are you here?" No response. _"Is anyone here?"_ Alex thought to herself as she began to cry. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Anne walks out of the room to find Amanda.

"She's awake. And she was asking for you." Anne says to Amanda.

Amanda looks up from her laptop and smiles at the news. "Good."

* * *

Back at Division, Michael and Nikita had just returned with Cyrus in tow.

"Why did you do this for me? Why did you risk your life?" Cyrus asks Nikita.

"Don't take this the wrong way but I didn't." She replies. Cyrus looks at her. "Amanda wants to teach me a lesson. She can't do that if I'm dead. She cares too much. She's not done with me yet."

Ryan comes down to meet them.

"Why did you give up Alex for him?" He says while glaring at Cyrus.

"I didn't give up Alex. Amanda won't hurt her. If she can't kill me, she won't kill Alex either. She cares about her too."

"That was a very risky move, Nikita!"Sean screams, as he limps his way toward her.

"I know. But we'll get Alex back. I promise you!"

"Hey Sean, take it easy on that leg." Michael says, noticing his crutches.

Sean walks away angrily.

Nikita glances up at Michael. He replies, "I'll go have a talk with him." She nods. Michael follows Sean out of the room.

Ryan turns back to Nikita. "Bring Cyrus into interrogation. Maybe he can help us ID the man in the hood."

* * *

Alex was frantically trying to loosen the straps on her wrists when Amanda walked in. "Hello Alex, I'm glad you're here."

"I'm sorry I can't say the same about you."

Amanda pursed her lips. "At least your manners have improved."

"Enough small talk, Amanda. What do you want from me? Zetrov? It's too late, I've already sold all my shares."

Amanda steps closer to her. "I don't care about your father's company anymore Alex. I've moved on, what I'm more interested in now is you." She says smiling. "Tell me. Why did you start using again?"

Alex stares at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Amanda hold up a blue pill bottle and reads the label. "Sobelex. Isn't this the experimental drug Division was working on?"

Alex's eyes widen. "Maybe. I don't know, those aren't mine." She says nervously.

"Stop lying, Alex. You were always such a bad liar."

"I'm not lying!"

Amanda suddenly smacks Alex right across the face.

"I'm not lying." Alex whimpers.

"Just admit you're an addict, Alex!"

"No."

"Stubborn child." Amanda grabs Alex's right shoulder and digs her thumb into the closed bullet wound.

Alex screams in pain. Amanda digs deeper.

"Stop! Please, stop!" Alex screams.

"Admit it!"

"Okay, okay! I'm an addict! Are you happy now?"

Amanda releases her thumb. "Yes."

Alex pants. "What difference does it make to you?" She says coldly.

"If you don't want my help then I'll just go." Amanda starts to head to the door.

"Wait..."Alex whispers quietly.

She turns around. "Yes Alex?"

Alex doesn't say anything, only shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Her shoulder was killing her again.

Amanda lifts up the blue pill bottle again and raises her eyebrows. "Do you want one of these?"

She was torturing her. It was true. Alex was an addict. She wanted so desperately for the pain to go away.

"You don't need these Alex."

Alex grew angry and screamed at Amanda. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"I can't Alex."

"Why not?"

"Because I need your help with something first."

"Screw you."

Amanda smiled at the Deja Vu feeling and pressed a hidden button she had been holding in her hand.

An electric current ran through Alex's body as she let out a frightening scream.

Behind the one-way mirror, the man in the hood looked on with guilt. "_It's the only way to save him_" He reminded himself. _"Alex is the key."_

Alex's heart was beating so fast, she thought she was going into cardiac arrest.

"Alex, you're going to help me whether you like it or not." Amanda says, turning around to face Anne. "Message my mole; I want to chat with Nikita again."

* * *

Michael walked into medical where he found Sean sitting on a chair, a sad expression was on his face. Michael sighs; he knew he was worried; hell they all were. Alex was a big part of the whole team and if anything happened to her…he shivered at the thought. He didn't want to think about that. It wasn't going to happen anyway. They were going to get Alex back, they had to.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" He says walking over to Sean. Sean didn't move. He just continued to stare at the ground. Michael exhaled and sat next to him. "We will get Alex back, Sean."

"I know." He drops his face into his hands. "This is all my fault. I should have told her to stay with me and we should have never split up."

"It's not your fault Sean. You couldn't have known this would happen. No one could." Michael tells him. "The only person we should be blaming is Amanda."

"But if something happens to her…" Sean's voice caught in his throat. "I'll never forgive myself. How could I let someone I love just walk away and now-"

"Don't worry Sean, you'll help us save her." Michael says smiling at Sean saying he loves Alex. "We will get Alex back and when we do she's gonna need you more than ever. And if you love her like you say you do then all you need to do is be there for her."

Sean nods. "You're right. We will get her back and I'll do anything to help find her."

Michael grins. "Good, we could use you."

* * *

"I think we should tell Nikita." Birkhoff tells Sonya as the two sat in his office thinking of solutions for this whole mess they were in.

Sonya frantically shakes her head. "No! You can't! The mole will see and Amanda will find out and she'll…she'll…"

"Shh, relax Sonya." Birkhoff says placing his hand on her cheek. "We'll find a way, I promise." She nods and takes a deep breath to calm herself. "And don't-"

Ryan bursts in the room. "There you are! Where the hell were you guys?" Birkhoff rolls his eyes at Ryan's "impeccable" timing as he goes to answer but Ryan stops him. "Never mind, Amanda has Alex, we need you in ops now!"

"WHAT!" Birkhoff and Sonya exclaim.

"How the hell did that happen?" Birkhoff asks.

"We'll explain everything in ops. Let's go." He says. They nod and just as they were about to leave Birkhoff's computer dings. They look at it and their eyes widen.

"It's Amanda." Birkhoff says as he turns to Sonya and Ryan. "She wants to talk."

* * *

Nikita paces back and forth in ops trying to think of a way to save Alex. Michael and Sean had returned moments ago and were both deep in thought, worry on their faces. "_This is all my fault"_ Nikita thought, "_I should have told her to stay, I knew something bad was going to happen." _She sighs and runs her hand through her hair.

"You're blaming yourself." Michael says watching his fiancée.

Nikita looks at him. "How did you-"

Michael smiles. "Because I know you." He walks over to her placing his hands on her arms as his expression becomes serious again. "This isn't your fault Nikita. You couldn't have known what Amanda was planning. She did this. But we will get Alex and bring her home."

Nikita nods, determination in her eyes. "I know we will."

"Nikita." They turn to see Ryan, Birkhoff and Sonya walk in the room.

"Amanda wants to chat." Birkhoff says going to his computer and pressing some buttons. Sean, Michael and Nikita glance at each other worriedly then Nikita nods.

"Fine, let's chat." She says turning to face the screen. It turns on and Amanda's face appears.

"Hello again." Amanda smirks. "Long time, no see."

Sean's eyes narrow. "Cut the crap, Amanda. Where's Alex?"

"Relax Sean," Amanda smiles leaning away from the screen. "She's right here."

Their hearts drop seeing Alex tied to a chair unconscious and beaten. It took everything in them to stay composed. _Why Alex? Why her?_

Nikita swallows the lump in her throat. "What do you want Amanda?"

"To teach you a lesson, Nikita." Amanda answers. "Haven't you been paying attention to everything that's happened? Or do you just not care?"

"Enough of your games Amanda!" Michael yells anger in his eyes. "Gives us Alex back now!"

Amanda frowns and presses a button on the remote she's been holding. Alex's screams echoed through the room as she jolted awake.

"Where am I? What's going on!" Alex exclaimed frantically looking around.

"Alex! No!" Nikita screams watching Alex in fear. "Stop! I'm listening!"

Amanda smiles. "Good." She turns to Alex. "Don't worry Alex, I'm just having a chat with some old friends of ours. Want to say hi?" Alex looks at Amanda confused then looks at the screen. Her eyes widen.

"Nikita?" She asks in a small voice. Nikita gives her a reassuring smile, tears in her eyes.

"You want to save Alex?" Amanda asks. "You'll have to find her first; all you have to do is…follow the clues."

"What clues?" Michael asks.

Amanda turns toward Alex, "Be a good girl and say your lines like we discussed."

"Screw you, Amanda. I'm not playing your games."

Nikita looks at Alex with a mixture of pride and worry in her eyes. She was proud Alex stood up for herself and stayed strong but she feared how far Amanda would go to get what she wants out of Alex.

Amanda gives Alex one more chance. Alex braces herself, another round of electricity surged through her body as she bite down her lip trying not to scream. The pain was too much and she let out another grueling scream.

Nikita yelled, "Stop it, please! Amanda stop!"

The screaming stopped and Alex was hyperventilating, trying to catch her breath again.

"Alex, I know you want to be strong, and I need you to be but for now I need you to play along."

Alex nods at her mentor. "Okay Nikita."

Amanda waits for Alex to say the clue. "The place where the Princess first met her Fairy Godmother."

"Good Luck." Amanda says before the screen goes black.

**Ahhhh! Team Nikita better go save Alex and fast! Speaking of which, what do you guys think the clue means? Please Review and tell us your answers! If you answer right you'll get a special shout out in the next chapter! And don't forget to tell us what you think of the chapter too! Thanks for Reading! **


	5. Chapter 5: Red Herring

**Hi everyone! Omg! Who watched the new episode of Nikita last night? Wasn't it sad? I feel so bad for Sean :( Well, at least he will always have Alex! Yay Salex! haha anyways, heres Chapter 5! I hope you guys like it! Enjoy :)**

**Shout Outs!- Alright so i said I was gonna give shout outs to anyone who guessed the last clue right, unfortunately out of all the awesome answers you guys did give us...none of them where right except for one person. They got the clue right but they didn't give the exact locations but still. Congrats to Dark433angel for answering it right! And no I will not tell you guys the location, you'll have to read to find that out lol Oh and gold stars for everyone who guessed! Thanks guys! And Thanks for reviewing everyone!  
**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to say it again? No people, I do not own the show Nikita.  
**

**Chapter 5: Red Herring**

The room was silent. _"The place where the Princess first met her Fairy Godmother." _That was Alex's clue.

"Riddles. That's just like Amanda, messing with our heads. I hate riddles" Birkhoff stated.

"Shut up Nerd, I'm trying to think." Nikita glares at him.

After a moment more of silence Sean spoke up. "Alex must be the princess."

It finally hit her, "I got it!" Nikita exclaims. Everyone in the room stared at her as she began to explain. "After I escaped Division, I went searching for Alex. I wanted to make sure she was okay so I could tell myself I did one good thing in my life." She glances at Michael. He nodded, understanding her. Nikita continues, "When I eventually found her, she had run herself into the ground. Addicted to drugs, homeless and with no purpose in life."

Sean stared at Nikita in silence. He knew Alex had a difficult past but he didn't fully understand all that she had been through. Alex was not like most people.

"But you gave her a purpose." Michael give Nikita a reassuring smile.

Nikita smiled back reminiscing about Alex, "I did."

"So you're Alex's Fairy Godmother?" Ryan asks.

Nikita laughs at the memories, "Yeah I guess, I mean...that's what she overheard me say when I finally found her. She had a gun pointed at me-"

"Wait a gun?" Sean interrupted her. He was in awe of this story. Alex never talked much about her past, he had no idea what a badass she was before he met her.

Nikita laughs, "I was fighting off her drug dealer and he asked me who the hell I was. I told him I was her Fairy Godmother before knocking him out. He dropped his gun and Alex picked it up, aiming at me in self-defense."

"Wow." was all Sean could say.

"It gets better" Michael adds, "Finish the story honey."

"Alex was freaking out, she shot off a couple stray bullets. I had to stop her, so I did the only thing I could... I knocked her out." She finished.

"Okay, so this place Alex's clue is referring to is her old drug house?" Sean asked.

"I believe so."

"Okay, what are we waiting for then? Let's go get her!" He exclaims.

"No, you need to stay here." Michael says earning a glare from Sean. "You can barely walk, Sean. Your leg needs to heal."

Sean huffs annoyed he can't help save Alex, but he knows Michael is right. There is no way he can help them fight off anyone with an injured leg. _Damn Anne_

He sighs and nods. "But you two can't go alone."

"We're gonna need some backup." Nikita agrees.

"Someone call me?" Owen asks walking into the room.

"Owen!" Nikita smiles. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Owen replies. He looks at everyone's pale, worried faces and raises an eyebrow. "Why do guys look like you saw a ghost?"

Nikita immediately frowns. "Amanda, she has Alex. She's been torturing her and we need to find her before….something worse happens."

"She gave us a clue to the drug house where Nikita and Alex first met but we don't know if she's there." Michael finishes.

"Clues?" Owen asks. "What the hell is this, a scavenger hunt?"

"You're surprised?" Birkhoff says. "This is Amanda we're talking about."

Owen rolls his eyes then nods in determination. "Well you can count me in. I don't know what Amanda did to me, but I am sure as hell not gonna let it happen to Alex."

Nikita smiles at Owen proudly. "Well then, it looks like we have our back-up."

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Ryan asks. "Ari got you pretty good."

"I'm fine." Owen reassures him.

"Wait," Sean says eying Owen. "Who is this guy?"

"Oh, Sean, Owen. Owen, Sean." Nikita introduces them realizing they've never met before.

"You know, from what I heard, I thought you'd be bigger." Sean says.

"Really?" Owen replies. "I don't know what you'd look like because, well, nobody ever talks about you."

"Alright, let's move on." Nikita says changing the subject. "Owen, you're coming with Michael and I. Sean, you'll stay here with Birkhoff, Sonya and Ryan. Help them find Amanda." Everyone nods.

"So, what's the plan?" Sonya asks quietly.

"Well," Nikita begins turning to face them. "Phase one: Save Alex, Phase two: Kick Amanda's ass, and Phase three: Veggie Shakes. We're gonna need them."

* * *

Alex was exhausted, after Amanda had cut the video feed off, and walked away she was left alone to suffer through the pain and withdrawal symptoms. Alex cried, she felt like her body was burning. She ached and screamed for attention. "Please, just let me go! What more do you want from me?" No one ever responded to her. All Alex could do was continue to gaze at her own reflection in the mirror across from her. She stared at it long and hard until she could barely recognize herself.

Suddenly Amanda was calling her name. "Alex? I need you to stay with me dear."

She only blinked. Barely functioning. Amanda considered shocking her again but she decided to give the poor girl a rest. "Alex, I know you're inside there. You can't hide from me."

Alex glanced at her, not saying a word.

Amanda sighed, "Are you going to play nice and help me?" Alex continued to stare. Her eyes so blue, it was frightening how little life Alex had in her anymore.

* * *

"I'm worried Michael." Nikita says quietly to Michael while they packed their weapons. They wanted to be prepared in case Amanda double-crosses them. "I can't help but think of what Amanda could be….or is doing to Alex. Of how much pain she is in right now. What if-"

"Hey." Michael says turning to her. "Alex is a strong girl. We'll get through this together, Nikita. Everything will be okay." Nikita nodded but she still seemed unsure. The door opens and they look up to see Birkhoff walking in.

"Hey Nerd." Nikita smiles.

"Hey," He replies. He looks between the two and sighs. "I came down to wish you two luck and please, for the love of all that is Star Wars, please be careful."

Michael smirks. "Star Wars really?"

Birkhoff rolls his eyes. "Just be careful and bring Alex home okay?"

Nikita smiles. "Don't worry, we will." Birkhoff nods, a smile on his face. "Oh, Birkhoff do you have any updates on the mole?" He shifts uncomfortably and looks away. Nikita glances at Michael then back at Birkhoff sensing there was something he wasn't telling her.

"Nerd? What's wrong?" Nikita asks. Birkhoff looks back at her fear, in his eyes. "Hey, you know you can tell us anything." Birkhoff sighs and scans the room making sure no one could possibly be watching. Once he was sure they were completely alone, he turns to face Nikita and Michael.

"Sonya is the mole." He whispers.

Michael and Nikita's eyes widen. "What?"

"Three weeks ago, Amanda's cleaner grabbed her coming out of her apartment." Birkhoff explains. "They reactivated her kill chip. Now if she doesn't update them every two hours she's considered compromised."

"She couldn't take ten minutes to ask for help?" Nikita asks. "We can remove her chip in medical."

Birkhoff shakes his head. "No, there's a second mole. Someone's whose sole job is to watch to her and makes sure she stays in line."

Michael sighs. "So she has access to you, to us…"

"Yeah, Amanda told her to leak information about her location. She wanted you in Spain, and she wanted Alex in Romania. It was all a part of her twisted plan."

"She wanted Alex for something." Nikita says then looks at Birkhoff placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look, you did the right thing by telling us, but we have to tell the others-"

"No! No, I promised Sonya that I-"

"Shh, Birkhoff it will be okay." Nikita assures him. "Ryan and Sean can help you and Sonya."

Birkhoff sighs. "Alright."

* * *

Alex wasn't coherent anymore. She had repressed her mind into a state of limbo as a defense mechanism. Borderline acknowledging Amanda's presence.

"What's wrong with her?" Anne asked.

"She's building up walls. She doesn't want to be controlled." Amanda replies.

"How do we snap her out of it?"

Amanda sighs, "She needs a trigger, something to give her a purpose again." Alex continued to stare at her reflection in the mirror.

"What happened to you, Alex?" There was no response. "You never told me why you started using again."

Alex's eyes flickered at Amanda. A trigger, Amanda smiled at this. "Is it because of Sean? I heard you two had a falling out."

Alex became enraged. She pulled on her restraints and yelled, "Sean has nothing to do with this!"

"Then why did you start using again?"

"It was for my shoulder. I didn't want to get benched." Alex explained, "I wanted to be out there, in the fight."

"You were so fired up to get out there and put your life on the line that you would take drugs and lie about it just to do it?" Amanda asked. "Why?"

Alex looked at Amanda for a moment thinking. "Does there always have to be another why?"

"With you? Yes." Amanda simply stated.

She sighed, turning her head to stare at the mirror again. Amanda quickly grabbed Alex's shoulders and shook her. "No Alex! You can't keep running away from your problems."

"Why do you care?" Alex argued. "Just let me die!"

"It's not in the lesson plan. Not now."

Amanda motioned to Anne to bring over the video camera. Alex's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"

"I need you to record a couple messages for me."

"More games?" She questioned.

"You could say so."

"You're sick."

Amanda was frustrated with her. "I don't want to do this, but if you won't help me. I'll have no choice."

"Do it!" Alex taunted her, bracing herself for another shock. It never came.

Instead Amanda motioned for Anne to bring her over a medical cart.

Alex's eyes grew wide. "Wait... what are you doing?" Amanda took out a giant needle. "What is that?"

She began to shake nervously in her seat.

"Something to make you obey."

"No! You can't do this!" Alex's eyes flashed as she began to struggle

"Hold her still!" Amanda commanded Anne. "Goodbye Alex."

* * *

Owen, Michael and Nikita arrive at the old drug house. It looks abandoned which makes them feel on edge.

"Be careful." Michael warns. "This could be a trap."

Owen nods and sweeps the backyard, he motions its clear and they enter through the backdoor. They walk into what was once a kitchen. They clear the room and head towards the living room. Again no one is there.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Owen asks as he looks around the room.

"Anything unusual I guess." Michael says as Owen nods, leaving the room. He looks at Nikita who was staring into another room, a far off look on her face. He frowns and places a hand on her shoulder. Nikita blinks and looks at him, her eyes filled with regret and pain.

"I'm sorry I-" She trails off unable to finish. She can't help but think of when she met Alex here. What those men would have done to her. What Alex wanted to get here. Everything Alex went through because of what she did. Because of what Division did. There were many things Nikita wished she could fix and this was one she'd repair immediately. If only life worked that way.

"Nikita." Michael whispers, sensing her pain. "Everything will be okay."

Nikita nods. "I hope so."

"I haven't found anything." Owen says walking back in. "It's all just old furniture and dead plants."

"Keep looking." Nikita says. "Amanda wanted us to be here. There must be something she wants us to find. Michael, come with me upstairs; Owen keep looking down here." Owen nods watching as the two make their way upstairs.

Owen had a suspicious feeling someone was watching him. He was right, from multiple cameras hidden carefully throughout the house, Amanda was watching with a close eye.

* * *

Amanda sat in her chair flipping through the different surveillance scenes. She stopped on an image of Michael and Nikita sweeping the second floor for clues while Owen investigated the kitchen again.

"Nothing here." Owen reports. "What about you guys?

"Michael was checking a bedroom, "Nothing here either."

The scenes changes to show Nikita searching a bathroom. Amanda pulls up all the various viewpoints on her tablet and turns around to face Alex still tied up to her chair.

"What do you see Alex?" Amanda asks.

Alex looks up at her and glances at the tablet. "I see my friends looking for me." She replies.

"They're not your friends anymore."

"They're not?" Alex asks confused, shaking her head. The drug Amanda injected her with was starting to take its effect. Alex tried to fight it. "No. They are. They're coming to get me."

"Why isn't it working?" Anne asks Amanda. "I thought you said this would make her obey."

"Patience Anne. Scopolamine is a powerful drug. It will take some time for it to reach it's full effect." Anne raised her eyebrows. Amanda rolled her eyes and continued, "When used for medical purposes, Scopolamine is used to treat patients with sea-sickness or as a light anesthetic in trauma surgery. However, researchers have discovered this drug can be used to control victim's minds."

"I won't let you control me Amanda!" Alex interrupts, still struggling to fight the drug.

Amanda turns to face her again. "Oh Alex, you don't have a choice. You're already becoming delirious and soon your mind won't be able to differentiate between what is True or False."

Alex couldn't control herself anymore, as much as she tried to fight it. the Drug was slowly eating her away. She sank back down in her chair and sighed. Her head hurt and she was so confused. Alex closed her eyes taking in her last thoughts. _"I'm sorry Nikita. Michael... Sean... for whatever Amanda is going to make me do."_

"Now Alex, I need you to help me. Will you help me?"

Alex opened her drug-induced eyes and nodded slowly. "Good girl. Say your lines to the camera."

Alex faced the camera, as a red light flashes signaling it was online.

* * *

Owen continues to check through each room, looking for anything strange but he finds nothing. He goes into the living room again where a plant in the corner of the room catches his eye.

"There's nothing upstairs." Michael says as he and Nikita walk in.

"I think I found something." Owen tells them his eyes still focused on the plant. "All the other plants in this house are dead." He turns to Michael and Nikita. "So why does this one look fine?"

Michael and Nikita glance at each other before Michael goes over and inspects the plant. At first he doesn't see anything until he notices what looks like a small plastic fly. Confused he grabs the bug showing it to Owen and Nikita.

"What is it?" Nikita asks.

Michael's eyes widen. "It's a bug!"

"No shit." Owen teases.

Michael rolls his eyes. "No, it's an actual bug. Amanda's watching us."

* * *

"They've found the bug." Amanda says turning to Alex.

Alex stares blankly. "It's time?" She asks, not knowing what to think anymore.

"Yes Alex, it's time."

Amanda presses a couple buttons on her tablet and watches as the scene continues to unfold before her.

An old TV suddenly flickers to life.

"What the-" Michael notices Alex's face appear on the screen. She looked so tired and in pain. He frowns at the sight.

"Alex?" Nikita asks.

Alex begins to speak, "Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust. Where once laid black coal, this place will always have a second chance at life." She says as if in a trance.

Behind the scenes Amanda smiles as she watches Nikita take notice of Alex's disturbing state.

"What do you see now, Alex?" She turns around to see Alex watching herself on the screen.

"That's me? I… I don't remember this." She says nervously shaking her head, trying to make sense of her world. The drug effects had messed with her memories. "What's happening?"

"Wait for it" Amanda says excitedly as if she was enjoying a movie, "This is going to be an explosive ending."

Nikita watches Alex on the screen carefully. Alex begins to twitch, then stares right at her, with intense urgency in her eyes. "It's a trap!" She warns, "The bug is a bomb! You have 60 seconds before the house explodes! G-"

The video cuts off and goes black.

"Get out of the house now!" Michael yells throwing the bug on the couch. "Go!"

They run out of the house, just as they get outside the house explodes throwing them to the ground.

**Ahhhh! Okay I'm one of the people writing this and I'm still freaking out. The house just exploded! Will everyone be okay? Will they save Alex? You'll have to read to find out ;) Ooh and we have another clue too! Where do you guys think the next place is? As before anyone who answers right gets a special shout! Please review and tell us what you think! Thanks! :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Hell or High Water

**Hi guys! So here is chapter 6 and just in time for the new Nikita tonight too! Enjoy!**

**Shoutouts!: So unfortunetly no one got this clue right but I do want to give a shout to nicolebetkhodu! The Udinov Estate was actualy a possible answer but we'll explain later what the real answer is. So congrats for that good guess! We had a lot of other good guesses too so gold stars for everyone who guessed! and gold stars for everyone who reviewed too! Thanks guys they mean a lot! **

**Disclaimer: Do you think I'd be sitting here right now if I owned Nikita? That's what I thought.**

**Chapter 6: Hell or High Water**

There was dead silence back at Division. Ryan, Sean, Birkhoff and Sonya all stared at each other in shock.

"Nikita!" Ryan yells. The last thing they heard was a giant explosion. "Nikita! Michael? Owen? Come in! This is ops."

After a couple seconds static appeared where there was once radio silence. Then a voice came. "Ops, this is Nikita. We're clear."

Everyone sighed in relief. "Nikki, thank god you're okay!" Birkhoff exclaimed.

"Alex saved us, she gave us a warning."

"That's good, how did she look?" Sean asked.

"She looked exhausted but she's holding in there." Nikita replied.

"How are you holding up?" Ryan asks.

"I've been better."

"Okay guys, return to Division so we can figure out the next step."

Nikita agreed. Ryan turned around to face Birkhoff and Sonya.

"Amanda needs to be stopped. This was a close call. What do you have on the kill chips, Birkhoff? Is there any way we can deactivate Sonya's without alerting the second mole?"

Birkhoff stepped in front of Ryan with his back turned towards the window so the agents below would not be able to see what they were discussing in private. "Deactivation takes 3 hours."

Sonya stepped next to Birkhoff and handed Ryan a tablet, pretending to discuss other important information. "I don't have 3 hours, I have to update Amanda every 2."

Sean surveyed the agents below the window, keeping a lookout for anyone caught glancing up at them for too long. He turned around to speak. "We need to flush out the mole."

"How do we do that?" Ryan asks.

"I have an idea." Birkhoff jumps in. "It's going to require all of you to act your asses off though."

Sean looked at Birkhoff, "Please, I was born to act."

Birkhoff laughed, "Sure you were, boyscout."

* * *

Michael, Nikita, and Owen enter Division. They just got back from the drug house. Birkhoff and Sonya immediately run up to them.

"What the hell happened?" Birkhoff asks.

"Amanda planted a bomb in the house." Michael tells them. "If it wasn't for Alex, we would have never made it out in time."

"I'm glad you're okay." Sonya says

"Did you find anything?" Birkhoff asks.

Nikita nods, "Another clue," She sighs. "Why does this feel like some kind of distraction?"

"Amanda is just trying to make you squirm." Owen says, "She wants to see you suffer."

Nikita frowns but decides to change the subject. "So Nerd, how's Operation Whack-a-Mole going?"

"Ryan, Sean and I are about to do phase 1." Birkhoff says. He turns to Sonya. "It's time to update Amanda." She nods and goes to her computer while Michael, Nikita, Birkhoff and Owen head to ops.

* * *

"Alright everyone listen up, we got our first lead on Amanda." Ryan says walking into ops. "With your help we can finish this. Based on our intel we believe Amanda has a safe house in a two mile radius of the warehouse Alex was last seen in." He motions to the map behind him. "I want everyone to pull their resources and do whatever you can to close this circle even further." He gives them a smile and then walks to the round table where Sean is monitoring all the agents.

"Agents two, five, six, eight, ten and thirteen." Sean says as Ryan reaches him.

"That many people spiked at the mention of Amanda?" Ryan asks.

"Yeah, let's narrow it down even further." Sean replies glancing at Birkhoff. "See who reacts to Sonya reacting."

"Go." Birkhoff whispers to Sonya from their computers.

Sonya nods, takes off her ear piece and stands up; walking out of the room.

Ryan and Sean look down at the computer to see it had changed to four agents: Sammy, Jen, Baker and Anna.

"And then there were four." Sean says as Birkhoff glances over at them.

"We need to get going and prep the next phase." Ryan tells Sean.

"On it." Sean says and leaves the room.

Making sure no one is watching, he sneaks his way into the server room. He props a small ladder against one of the server towers, takes out a pocket knife and cuts one of the wires. He moves back as it begins to spark.

He turns on his com. "It's Sean, ops we're a go."

After hearing Sean's message Ryan sends the four agents to the Server Room to "fix" one of the towers. Once they leave he tells Birkhoff to begin phase three.

Birkhoff walks into the Server Room and eyes the four agents. "Okay people look alive."

"What are we doing down here?" Sammy asks.

"What's with all the questions?" Birkhoff retorts. No one says anything and he continues. "So, Halon systems went off, covered the tower and fried eight of the nodes."

"Did it malfunction?" Baker asks.

"No, our fire prevention system suddenly became self-aware and decided to attack us with whip cream." Birkhoff replies sarcastically. Everyone looks at him. "That's a joke….anyway people the point is we're in the middle of the hunt for Amanda we need to be up and running at full capacity. I want each of you to choose two nodes and rebuild them from the ground up."

"What?" Sammy exclaims. "That will take hours."

"Well, you better stop whining and get to work," Birkhoff replies. "Because none of you are leaving until the jobs done, enjoy."

* * *

Michael and Nikita were in ops trying to figure out what Alex's second clue could mean.

"Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust. Where once laid black coal, this place will always have a second chance at life. What could that possibly mean?" Michael asks Nikita. She was pacing back and forth trying to rack her brain around Alex's new clue. She couldn't help but think about the state Alex was in when she said it. It was like she was in a trace._"What did Amanda do to you, Alex?"_ Michael could sense Nikita was worrying again, but this time he couldn't help but be worried too. Sean walked into the room noticing both of their expressions.

"What happened? Is Alex okay?" He asked.

They looked up at him. "Sean…" Nikita says.

"No" Sean shakes his head. He glares at Michael. "You said we would save her, that Alex will be fine. She's fine! We will find her, and get her back!"

Michael nods, knowing Sean is right, he needs to keep an open mind.

"We will get her back." Sean repeats himself, fully confident.

Nikita smiles, having hope again. "We will." She agrees.

* * *

Amanda walks into Alex's room.

"How is she doing?" She asks Anne.

"She's losing it. That drug you gave her is making her delusional." Anne replies. Alex was mumbling to herself, swaying her head side to side. "I don't know what's wrong with her. She looks high."

"Humm…" Amanda steps forward to inspect Alex's odd behavior. "This must be one of the side effects."

Suddenly Alex started laughing hysterically, "I'm crazy" she tells Amanda. "That's why I'm here, they left me here."

"Alex, where do you think you are?"

"This is a hospital right? That's why I'm here. I need help with something? Are you here to help me?"

"You could say that… who left you here?"

Alex stares at Amanda questioning what she was about to say, "Nikita?"

"Yes, she left you here with me. I'm going to help you."

"No!" Alex suddenly shook her head surprising Amanda. She began to shake in her restraints again attempting to break free.

"What's happening!?" Anne shouted, "She was calm a second ago!"

"She's stronger than I anticipated."

"What?" Anne questions.

"I don't know how but she's fighting it."

"Alex!" Amanda tries to keep Alex from hurting herself against the straps tied to her hands. "Calm down! I'm not here to hurt you, I want to help you."

"She's not buying the lies. This isn't working." Anne argues.

Amanda was enraged, she needed this plan to work. "Get me another dose!"

"It's too much, she might overdose" Anne tries to warn her.

"Bring it to me now, Anne!" She obeys and brings Amanda another dose of Scopolamine.

Alex stares at Amanda, eying the needle. "No!" She screams.

Amanda pierces the needle into the side of Alex's neck, as her head drops. Alex was unconscious again.

"What did you do to her?" Anne asks worriedly.

Amanda sighs, "When she wakes up, she might have some memory lapses. Try not to frighten her."

* * *

"Okay guys, lets try to think harder. This clue must mean something." Ryan says looking around the round table.

Birkhoff returns from briefing the second mole suspects. Ryan looks toward him. Birkhoff nods at him, "Phase 3 is in motion. Nikki, how are you doing?"

"Ashes to Ashes…" She begins, "Where have I heard that before?"

"It's a common phrase." Birkhoff states.

"Yeah it is, it usually means where or what we come from, we return to." Michael explains. "Does this have any special meaning to you and Alex?"

Nikita shakes her head. "I don't know…"

Owen enters the room. "Maybe it has something to do with literal ashes."

Michael stares at him like he's crazy. "What?" Nikita looks at him. "Okay, listen. If a bug can literally be shaped like a bug, then it isn't too farfetched to think Amanda might not be joking."

"Owen does have a point." Ryan says.

"Sometimes I think you all think i'm an idiot."

"Aww Owen, you're not an idiot." Nikita says with a smile on her face.

"What about the Udinov Estate?" Michael suggests.

"Alex's childhood home?" Sean questions.

"Yeah it was burnt to the ground but rebuilt." Birkhoff adds.

"But did either of you have a second chance of life there?" Ryan asks looking at Nikita.

Nikita suddenly becomes serious, thinking. "Ashes! Owen, you're a genius."

"I am?" Owen replies.

"The loft, I burned it." Michael stares at her now like she's the crazy one. She stares back at him giving him a _trust me_ look. "It's filled with a ton of ash right now… but that's not all. That phrase, this place was the one place Alex and I used to call home, the one place we always returned to at the end of the day. It was our special place, where it all began." Nikita stops to glance at everyone in the room. "It was where I brought her after the drug house. I got her clean, offered her a second chance at life and she took it. Alex never wanted her old life back, even after I offered her a new life, she came back to the loft and wanted to be a part of the fight. That's why she gave up Zetrov."

Nikita stops to look up at Michael. "Your idea is great but I don't think the clue means Alex's second chance at reclaiming what she once lost, she already had her chance at the estate and gave it up."

Michael nods understanding her logic. "Her second chance at life was the moment you offered her one at the loft and she stood by that decision many times."

"The loft, that's Whitfield's old place right?" Birkhoff asks.

"Yes, exactly. Amanda is trying to teach me a lesson with all these clues. Each location has special meaning that relates to Alex but also myself." Nikita replies with a sad expression, thinking about all she has done for Alex.

"She's trying to hurt you by taking you back to the past, Nikita." Michael says, "But just remember that's the past and only the past. History won't repeat itself. You're not alone this time. You have me, and the rest of us here at Division backing you up, we will find Alex."

Nikita nods her head in agreement.

After a moment of some awkward silence Owen speaks up, "Well, then what are we waiting for! Let's go make some donuts!" Everyone stares at him. "Oh it's just a thing I say sometimes…"

"Okay then, let's get packing!" Michael says.

"I like my catchphrase better." Owen replies.

* * *

Nikita, Michael and Owen arrive at Whitfield's old mansion. They look up at it and see that most of it is burnt.

Michael turns on his com. "Hey Birkhoff, we're at Whitfield's, but most of it looks burned. Is it safe to go inside?"

"Hold on." Birkhoff says. There's a few seconds of typing before he speaks again. "I'm looking at the police reports. Says here that most of the structural support it gone. I'd suggest you watch your step."

Michael rolls his eyes. "Thanks for the tip Birkhoff."

"Anytime."

Michael turns to Nikita and Owen. "Birkhoff said that most of the structural support is gone, we'll have to be careful going in." Nikita nods and goes toward the building. Michael goes in first then once he sees its safe he motions for Owen and Nikita to follow. Owen looks at the signal detector.

"The bottom floor is clear." He states.

"Alright, let's go up a few levels." Nikita says.

* * *

Birkhoff shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He kept thinking about Sonya and her still active kill chip. Amanda has complete control over it and he was so scared that something would go wrong and…no he had to stop thinking like that. He turns to Sonya giving her a reassuring smile and she gives him a small smile back. He sits there for another moment before realizing he's not going to relax until he knows her kill chip deactivated. They had to do this now. He gets up and moves to the round table where Ryan and Sean are still monitoring the four agents.

"We can't wait." Birkhoff says. "We can't wait any longer, we need to start this thing now."

Ryan looks at him. "Now? It's too soon we have to wait until-"

"Deactivation takes three hours, let's get this thing going." He exclaims.

"We haven't ID the second mole yet." Sean tells him.

"We can't wait for that." Birkhoff replies anxiously. "What if the mole has a check in time? We don't know. We don't even know if the mole is real. Look all I know is the kill chip is active and I need to make it the other way."

"Where do you want to do this?" Ryan asks.

"Sub level 12." Birkhoff says.

"Amanda's torture room?" Sean replies shocked.

"Nobody goes down there." Birkhoff explains. "We won't be bothered."

"How long will our suspects be preoccupied?" Ryan asks.

"Four hours tops." Birkhoff says.

Ryan sighs glancing between the two then nods, "Do it."

"If anyone leaves I'll deal with them. I got your back." Sean says. Birkhoff nods and leaves the room.

* * *

Nikita, Owen and Michael made their way towards the top of the mansion where Nikita's old loft was, stopping when they reached the top of a staircase that looked too unstable to cross.

"This is Ryan." Ryan says through their coms. "What's your status?"

"We haven't found anything." Nikita says. "And we're stuck at an unstable spot on the staircase. We have to go one at a time."

"Alright, be careful." Ryan says.

"I'll go first." Nikita says. Michael goes to protest but she stops. "I'm the lightest, Michael. It will be easier for me to cross."

Michael sighs but nods. "Be careful."

Nikita slowly begins to make her way up the stairs. She reaches the top safely and turns waiting for Michael and Owen. The two look at each other wondering who should go next but neither of them move.

"Uh, Rock Paper Scissors?" Owen asks. Michael shrugs and they play a game. Nikita looks at them in disbelief and shakes her head. _Boys._

Owen loses the game. He ignores Michael's triumphant grin and takes a step towards Nikita. He stiffens when he feels it shake and quickly moves his foot.

"One more step and it's going to cave in." He tells Nikita.

"Great." Nikita sighs. "Now what?"

"Just go ahead without us." Michael says. "Find Alex and we'll try to figure out another way around."

"Michael-"

"Go Nikita," Michael reassures her. "Everything will be okay."

She nods and reluctantly makes her way towards her old loft.

* * *

Alex awakens, this time not tied to a chair but laying in a bed. She makes a sudden movement causing her head to swirl. _"What happened?"_ Alex asks herself as she falls back into the bed closing her eyes.

"Alex?" Someone was calling her name. She turned her head to see a mysterious figure standing in the door, his face covered by the shadows.

"Who are you?" She asks.

"A friend. What is the last thing you remember?"

Alex tried to think, but her mind was so blank. "I don't know, honestly." She tried to sit up.

"Alex, I need to tell you something, do you trust me?" Alex squinted at him, trying to see his face.

"Yes?" She tried to think of a reason why she wouldn't trust this mysterious man.

He looked at her, "You were drugged. I found you in an alley outside of a bar, I think someone wanted to hurt you."

"Amanda? I remember Amanda." Alex tried to think, she remembered being drugged now, but not how this man was describing.

"I don't know who Amanda is but you kept saying someone else's name when I found you."

"Who?" She asks.

"Nikita."

"Nikita?" Alex shook her head, "No she's my friend, she wouldn't hurt me."

"But she shot you."

"Huh?" Alex looks down to see a bandage wrapped around her thigh. "When did this happen!?" She screams, shaking her head. "I must be going crazy. This isn't real. Where am I!?"

"Calm down, you're okay. You're safe now. Nikita shot you in the leg."

Alex tried to remember. "She did… once…"

"Why would she shoot you if she is your friend?"

"Because she's a traitor… she killed my papa."

"She killed you papa? Are you going to let her get away with that?"

Alex tried to think, she could barely remember anything. But once this man mentioned something like a keyword, it all came back to her.

Amanda was watching Alex through a one-way mirror. "It's working Anne, she's buying the story."

"Did you really have to shoot her in the leg while she was unconscious?" Anne asks.

"It was necessary to sell the story, she needed proof someone shot her." Amanda replies.

Suddenly the door open and the man in the hood appears. Amanda looks at him, "What did she tell you?"

"She thinks I'm telling the truth. Everything…she thinks she was drugged and that Nikita shot her."

"Good."

He looks at her, "Why did we have to lie to her?"

"We're not lying. At one point Nikita did shoot her. And she was drugged." He gives her a puzzled look. "You see, the mind works in interesting ways. A side effect of the drug I gave her causes some memory lapses. When mentioning key words, the mind will unlock certain memories and piece them together. You did a good job, you gave her mind clues to build a new memory. A memory she now thinks is the truth. We can control her mind."

"So this Nikita, she really did shoot her? Why this memory?"

"I needed to build Alex a story her mind would believe. Nikita killed her father, never told her and Alex lost trust in her. This memory is the perfect foundation to build Alex a path toward vengeance. She will want to stop at nothing to revenge her father's death."

"Genius." Anne comments.

"I thought so." Amanda replies with a smile.

"So what happens now?" The man in the hood asks.

"We wait for the perfect time to reunite them. I'm sure Alex is dying to see her old friend again." Amanda says with a devious smile on her face, "Let's see how Nikita is doing…"

* * *

Nikita walks into her old loft and looks around. Most of it is charred from the fire and the roof was completely caved in. As she begins her search sorting through the piles of ash and burnt wood she remembers the last time she was here. When she and Alex had fought and she had tried to make her listen.

"_None of this was my plan." Nikita tells Alex her eyes pleading for her to understand. "And if you hadn't tried to kill yourself right here. Right in front of me, I would have never told you about Division."_

"_What you told me." Alex says. "Was that I had something to live for. Revenge." Nikita shakes her head. "That's where I'm going. To get the man who ordered my father's death. I'm not running."_

"_Who told you all that? Percy? Amanda?" Nikita asks._

"_Amanda let me go." Alex tells her. "She deactivated my kill chip. This war against Division is your obsession."_

_Nikita looks at her in disbelief. "My obsession?"_

"_Nikita look at this place." She exclaims. "All of this space and you still sleep on a Division recruit bed. This fight is some sick need of yours. I have my own fight now." Alex turns to go but Nikita grabs her arm and turns her._

"_This was never about revenge. When I told you, you had something to live for I was talking about balance! I was talking about making things right!" Nikita yells, tears in her eyes. "If you do this you are gonna end up somewhere you don't want to be."_

"_That's my decision." Alex whispers. "Let me go."_

_Nikita shakes her head looking away sadly. Her heart broke. She was losing Alex._

"_Let me go!" Alex screams._

Nikita sighs at this memory, a lone tear falling down her face. She quickly wipes it away and sits down on the recruit bed that was still somehow there. She fidgets uncomfortably on the old metal springs. Suddenly she hears a ringing noise. _What is that? _She stands up again and follows the noise to a pile of ash on the floor. Confused she sifts through the rubble and finds an old burner phone like the ones she and Alex used to use. She brings it up to her ear and answers it.

"Walk with me down memory lane, to a place not far from here, however stories say tracking adjustments aren't always hip." Alex says.

"Good luck Nikita." She hears Amanda say before the phone shuts off.

**Ahh Another clue, deactivating Sonya's kill chip, finding the second mole, Mr. Mystery Man popping up and saving Alex from psycho Amanda! The Justice League has a lot on their plates but you know they got it covered! Ooh speaking of clues what place do you think this one means? And do guys know what cast member calls Team Nikita Justice League? (Which is where I got it from.) Please review and tell us your answers and thoughts about the chapter! Shout outs for everyone who answers right! Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7: Third Degree

**Hello people of the internet! So, before we get to the story I have a few things to say. First thing is if you guys love Nikita and you have instagram please check out the Nikita Fanpage we made for the show called teamnikita! We post pics and screen caps of both the cast and characters! Second check out my friends Nikita Vid called Nikita & Alex: Your Bones on YouTube! It's awesome! All the details and links are on my profile except for the instagram one but I'll put it on there after this is posted. Okay that's all I gotta say for now so without further ado here is chapter 7! Enjoy!  
**

**Shoutouts!: Ooh so two people got this clue right. Congrats to Wootar16 (btw: your first guess is the right one) and nicolebetkhoodu for guessing right! And another Congrats to Wootar16 for guessing the cast member who calls Team Nikita Justice League too! It was Shane West aka: Michael! Oh and gold stars for everyone who guessed and reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Nikita. Oh, I also don't own Target...you'll see why later in the story lol.**

**Chapter 7: Third Degree**

_"Walk with me down memory lane, to a place not far from here, however stories say tracking adjustments aren't always hip."_

Nikita walked over to a portion of the wall that had collapsed from the fire and stared out into the city's skyline. New York was a big place. "Oh Alex, where are you?" Nikita breathed into the cold wind. She stopped to listen to the sounds of the busy cars rushing by on the streets below her.

"Nikita, come in. What happen? Did you find Alex?" Michael asked through his coms.

"No, just another clue."

Michael sighed. "Owen and I are still stuck by the stairs, there's no way around without it caving in from our weight."

"Okay I'll be down in a minute, I just want to say goodbye to this place again."

Nikita continued to stare out into the city. "A place not far from here…" She tried to pinpoint a location but nothing really stood out, all the buildings in New York looked the same to her. "Alex, I need you. You were always so good at solving problems." She smiles at the memories of Alex. She was always such a smart girl, Nikita didn't need to train her that hard. Even Michael was impressed at how well she cracked codes and became a top recruit. That was something Nikita could never teach her, she had to have her own street smarts. No wonder Percy and Amanda made Alex an agent so fast. This girl had skills.

The lights of the city was starting to glow brighter, the sun was setting and soon businesses would close if Nikita didn't hurry and find Alex or the next clue in time, she would have to wait another day. Alex may not have another day and Michael and Owen was waiting for her to come down. _"I need to solve this riddle now, think Nikita." _

She walked around to another viewpoint of the city, trying to get a different perspective. "Stories say tracking adjustments aren't always hip. Hip?" Nikita laughed, "Why would you say hip, Alex?" It was such an old slang word, something Alex would never use in a casual conversation. It must mean something else.

One by one signs from stores down the street were beginning to turn on. Nikita spotted one and instantly knew she was given a sign.

"The store!" Nikita exclaimed in excitement, hitting her com button. "I know where to go next!"

"Where?" Owen replied to her first.

"In Alex's new clue she mentioned a place not far from here, where there were stories of tracking adjustments not always being hip."

"Hip? Who says that anymore?" Owen laughs, earning a rude glare from Michael shaking his head.

"Owen, that's not the point. Nikita, continue." Michael says.

"Well actually Michael, I thought the hip thing was strange too… but then I realized after Alex became an agent, I met her in a store and I told her, trackers were usually in the hip."

"That's right, Alex was the first agent to have her's at the base of the cortex." Michael remembers.

"Percy's Kill Chip." Owen stated.

"I don't like the sound of this clue, we need to get over to that store now before it closes." Nikita tells the two of them, "I'm coming down now."

She walks out of the room carefully making her away back to the boys. She reaches the stairs when she hears a crack and some sort of rumbling noise. She stops. _What was that? _Nikita waits a moment to see if she could hear the noise again but it was completely silent.

"Nikita? You okay?" Michael asks.

"I'm fine." She replies. "I just heard a weird noise. It's probably nothing."

"I heard it too… just be careful and hurry." He says. Owen nods.

She smiles. "Of course."

Nikita takes a step forward when the floor collapses. She lets out a scream as she grabs onto a hanging piece of wood.

"NIKITA!" Michael and Owen yell.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Michael exclaims.

"How?" Owen asks worriedly. "Take another step up the stairs and you'll fall too."

Michael realizes he's right and looks around worriedly. He needed to get to the other side but how? He looks up and sees a piece of a metal chain hanging from the ceiling. He figured it was from an old chandelier. Michael looks at it for a moment when an idea forms in his head. He goes over to the railing and pushes down on it. Satisfied that it's sturdy enough, Michael jumps on top of it.

Owen looks at him. "What are you doing?"

Michael doesn't answer. Instead he walks a bit forward on the railing and jumps as he grabs the metal chain. He swings forward and leaps onto the other side of the stairs.

"Michael!" Nikita screams. "I'm slipping!"

"Hold on!" Michael runs towards the huge hole in the floor. His eyes widen in fear when he sees her dangling from the small piece of wood.

"Nikita!" He reaches over to her, holding out his hand. "Grab my hand!"

She reaches for it but the wood she's hanging on begins to break. "It's breaking!"

"It's gonna be okay!" He tells her. "Just grab my hand!"

Nikita nods, trying again. She finally grabs his hand just as the piece of wood breaks. Michael tightens his grip around her using both of his hands while Nikita quickly latches her other hand onto his. Michael then pulls her up and away from the edge. Sighing in relief, Michael engulfs her in a huge hug which she returns.

"Never scare me like that again." He whispers in her ear.

Nikita smiles, leaning back to see his face. "Thank you."

"You know I'll always be there for you... but you're welcome." He grins.

"Not trying to ruin the moment or anything... since that's Ryan's job but uh, we're kinda under a time crunch here." Owen tells them smirking.

"I heard that." Ryan says over the coms.

"Heard what?" Owen replies innocently. "I didn't say anything." Michael and Nikita laugh.

Michael jumps onto the railing again and holds out his hand for Nikita to take it. He pulls her up, wrapping his arm around her waist and grabs the chain.

Nikita smirks. "Well look at you Mr. Tarzan."

Michael rolls his eyes but smiles as he swings them to the other side. The two jump down next to Owen.

Owen looks at them. "Let's go."

* * *

"Are you okay?" Ryan asks Nikita through her coms as she, Michael and Owen leave Whitfield's place.

"I'm fine." Nikita replies. "We found the next clue and figured out what it means. We're on our way to Target."

"Target?" Ryan asks confused.

"It's where the next clue is." Nikita explains rolling her eyes. "I'll explain later."

"Oh that makes sense." Ryan says. "Alright, good luck and be safe."

"Of course." Nikita says as the car reached Target. The store was still crowded with costumers, so they all agree to hide their weapons. They didn't want to cause any kind of trouble. They finally go inside the store.

Michael looks around. "How are we going to find anything here?"

"Let's look around the bedding section. That's where I told Alex about the trackers." Nikita tells them. They nod and walk to the section.

"Attention shoppers. The store will be closing in fifteen minutes so please finish up your shopping and hurry to the cashiers. Thank you and have a good day!"

Nikita eyes widen at the store announcement. "What? Fifteen minutes! How are we going to find a clue in fifteen minutes!"

"We'll find it, don't worry." Michael says placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax Nikita, we got this." Owen reassures her. Nikita nods and they start to look around.

Michael and Nikita were looking through some shelves when Ryan's voice came through their coms.

"This is Ryan. We hacked into the store surveillance systems... Nikita, I think someone's shadowing you."

* * *

Birkhoff and Sonya stand anxiously in the elevator waiting to arrive in Sub level 12.

"Okay I'm freaking out." Birkhoff bursts, breaking the silence. He looks at Sonya. "Why aren't you freaking out?"

"Don't see how that would help." She replies, taking deep breaths. "I'm focusing on the plan."

"There's got to be another way to do this without risking your life." Birkhoff tells her.

She looks at him. "We already narrowed down the list of suspects to four. Their under surveillance so you can finally disable this damn thing in my head."

He sighs. "How can you be so sure this is going to work?"

"I'm about to let you poke at my brain with a needle." She places a hand on his cheek and smiles. "Apparently I trust you."

They gaze at each other for a moment before the elevator dings, signaling them they had arrived at the floor. They glance at each other one more time before walking out of the elevator.

* * *

"What?" Nikita asks worriedly. "Can you see them?"

Ryan looks at the screen. "No, I can't see their face. Just watch your backs and try not to cause a scene. I'll keep an eye on him."

"Okay, thanks Ryan."

"No problem." He turns off his coms and decides to go check on Sean. It was time to see if he had found anything new about the second mole. Ryan walks into Birkhoff's office to find Sean staring intently at one of the screens.

"Find anything?" He asks.

Sean shakes his head. "No, everything looks-" He sees Baker cut his hand and leave the room. He frowns, grabbing his crutches and standing up. Something didn't seem right. "Did you see Baker-"

"Go, check it out." Ryan nods watching the screen. "And be careful with your leg."

Sean raises his eyebrow but agrees and leaves the room. He has some ass to kick.

* * *

"Well it's all coming together," Amanda says looking up from her laptop. Anne looks over her shoulder to see the store surveillance videos. "How is Alex doing?"

"She's been sitting in her room staring at her leg the whole day mumbling to herself."

"What has she been saying?"

"Things like 'this isn't real, I must be dreaming'. The girl is going crazy locked up in that hell hole."

Amanda sighs, "Alex isn't ready yet, when she is I won't stop her from returning to Nikita."

"When will she be ready?" Anne asks.

"When Sonya updates me with news Nikita has solved the fifth and final clue. She's only on clue number 3 right now. We still have some time to get Alex ready."

Anne looks at her questionably, "How can you trust Sonya?"

"She has a bomb in her brain, who needs trust when I have her on speed dial?" Amanda laughs. "Let's check the weather." She takes out her phone. "Partially cloudy, but still a balmy 78."

Anne looks confused. "Wailea Beach?"

Amanda smiles and looks up at Anne. "If our friend on the inside senses Sonya is flirting with betrayal, the forecast on this weather site changes and I retire Sonya."

Suddenly Amanda becomes excited. "This must be what it felt like to be Nikita!" Anne stares at her. "On the run from place to place. Launching her war from a laptop with a mole inside Division…she lives inside stronger walls now, but in a way she's weaker than ever." Amanda stops to glance at a surveillance video of Alex still sitting in her room. "Even the strongest walls can come crashing down. All you need to find is a single crack on the surface."

Amanda clicks through several images on her laptop. Stopping on new photos of Nikita, Michael and Owen on the streets outside of Nikita's old loft.

"Contact the watchman, tell him he can leave the store now. I have a new assignment for him."

* * *

"We need to focus on finding the clue." Michael says trying to calm Nikita.

Owen nods. "I'll keep a look out for the shadower you two continue to find the clue."

Nikita nods. "Alright." Owen walks off and Michael and Nikita continue to search through the bedding area. A woman suddenly walks up to them.

"Can I help you find anything?" She asks politely but before either could answer she adds. "I recommend our new custom embroidered hand towels." She hands one to them with the letter "A" stitched on it.

"Thank you." Nikita says taking the towel, noticing the "A". The woman walks away and the two glance at each other confused. Nikita feels something inside the towel and opens it. Inside was an a long white envelope. Nikita glances at Michael then opens the envelope revealing a note signed by Alex.

"Through rose colored glasses she goes, down a rabbit hole. Passerby's be unaware, but this place is not a waste she finds, temptations through a looking glass." Nikita reads.

* * *

"Excellent work on the last batch of photos. Exactly the kind of intel I was looking for." Amanda says to her laptop while circling around her desk. Anne watched her from the corner of the room. Amanda leans down to see the watchman's response.

"It doesn't come cheap." The watchman replies.

"Follow Nikita to the next location."

"I'll begin as soon as the money hits my account."

Amanda smiles, "Already on it's way." The watchman nods and the screen goes black.

"Now what?" Anne asks.

"Time to prepare Alex."

* * *

"We found another clue." Nikita tells Ryan over his coms. "We don't know what it means yet."

"Alright, why don't you guys head back to Division. It's getting late and you guys should get some rest." Ryan tells them as he walks back to ops.

"What? No! We're so close!" Nikita exclaims.

"We should at least regroup to figure out the next clue." Michael says. "And get those splinters out of your hand."

"I'm fine Michael." She sighs. "Alright, we're on our way."

"I'll see you soon." Ryan replies. He switches his coms. "Sean, how's whack-a-mole going?"

"I'm tracking down Baker." Sean replies, walking down a hall close to sub level 12. "I'll tell you when I find him."

"Good Luck." Ryan says.

Sean finds Baker and sees him looking into the room Birkhoff and Sonya were in. Baker takes out his phone and turns around jumping when he sees Sean standing there.

"Lost?" Sean asks.

"Cut myself." Baker holds up his arm. "Going to Medical."

"You're about twelve floors off." Sean replies taking a few steps towards him. Baker doesn't say anything. "What does Amanda have on you?"

"What does she have?" Baker smiles. "She has my loyalty. She's always had it. You're the traitor here and traitors die." He holds up his phone to update Amanda. Sean knocks it out of his hand with his arm. He goes to grab it but Bakers knocks him into the wall.

Birkhoff and Sonya hear them fighting from inside the room.

"What's happening?" She asks worriedly.

"I don't know." Birkhoff replies gazing quickly at the door.

Baker goes to grab his phone again but Sean grabs him throwing him aside. Baker tries to move again but Sean hits him in the head with his one of his crutches and slams his head into the wall knocking Baker unconscious. Sean grabs Baker's phone and walks into the room.

"What the hell was going on out there?" Birkhoff asks, still working on Sonya's chip.

"It was Baker. In the server room with the candle stick." Sean answers holding up the phone.

Birkhoff raised his eyebrow. "Baker? Really? Dude has skills."

Sonya scoffs. "I never liked him."

"Guy's a douche bag." Birkhoff agrees. "You should call Nikki. Tell her the good news. Oh and props on kicking the guy's ass with crutches. Looks like you got skills too."

Sean laughs. "Thanks." He turns on his coms. "Nikita, we found the second mole."

* * *

Amanda observed Alex in her room through the one-way mirror. The young girl was sitting with her back against a wall staring at her leg for what seemed like hours. Amanda turned to the man in the hood and gave him a silent nod. He left the room and entered Alex's.

Alex looked up at the sound of the door being pushed opened. "Did you come to tell me more of my friends are trying to kill me?"

"Alex, they're not your friends."

"What do you know, you're just some stranger… who won't even let me see his face."

He stands back in the shadows and pulls his hood tighter, "I'm sorry for that, but it's best you stay distant from me."

She stares in his direction, sighing. "Why should I listen to you? You've got me here trapped."

"This isn't a trap Alex, you're free to go anytime you want."

"Fine, then I'll just go now!" She tries to get up on her weak leg but slides back down against the wall wincing in pain.

"I can help you Alex, please stay awhile and we can talk."

"Talk about what?"

"What happen to you."

Alex sighs, trying to think about what this man had told her. She shakes her head. "That's the problem, I'm having trouble remembering."

"You don't believe Nikita shot you anymore?" He questions.

"I remember being in an ally once like you said." She stops to glance in his direction. "I was getting in a car, about to return to someplace… maybe home?"

"What else do you remember?"

Alex shakes her head as she questions her memories. "Nikita, she stopped the car and attacked me." She looks down at her leg, "She shot me. That's all I can remember, I don't know why."

"You told me she was a traitor and killed your papa."

Alex tries to shake her head again. "She didn't have a choice… they made her do it."

"Who did?" She looks at him, not sure if she should be mentioning their name. "Alex, you can tell me. I'm no danger."

"Division. I remember Division." She says.

"What's Division?"

"It's… a secret unit of the US government, designed to assassinate any threat… but they've gone rouge from the the people who created them… they killed my papa."

"So this Division is evil and anyone who works for it is too?"

"Yes."

"Does Nikita work for Division?"

Alex tried to think again. _"No, she can't… this doesn't make sense, she told me she was going to shut it down."_

"Alex, what's wrong?"

She keeps her head down shaking it. "This doesn't make sense… I can't remember. This isn't real."

"What is it? What is your mind telling you?"

"It's Nikita, she runs Division now… This isn't right. Something isn't right here!" Alex tries to get up again. "She was supposed to shut that place down!"

"Alex, calm down!"

She starts to panic. "No this isn't right! I need to do something, Division needs to be stopped!"

"How are you going to stop them?"

"I need to stop Nikita. She shot me because I was in her way, it makes sense now. I can remember."

He smiles at the girl, nodding. "Yes, you need to take down Division and Nikita. I can help you."

Alex smiles back at the man in the hood, finally coming to terms with her memories. She knew what she had to do. "First I need to find Nikita."

"She's been looking for you, I heard."

"Let her find me then."

**Ahh everything is just getting so intense! Nikita falling through the floor! Amanda brainwashing Alex! Birkhoff deactivating Sonya's kill chip! Someone shadowing Team Nikita and another clue! Oh and we can't forget Ryan and his interrupting issues...dudes gotta work on his timing skills lol Speaking of clues what does their new clue mean? Please review and tell us your answers and thoughts about the chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8: Shot in the Dark

**Hi guys! So I meant to post this yesterday but it took me forever to write because I kept getting distracted since I was watching the show at the same time haha. Anyways here's chapter eight! Hope you like it! **

**Shoutouts!: So no one guessed what the clue meant but it's cool everyone still gets gold stars for reviewing! Thanks guys! You rock! **

**Disclaimer: Do I own the show Nikita? Nope. Would I like to? Ya betcha ;)  
**

**Chapter 8: Shot in the Dark  
**

Nikita stormed through ops, stopping only when she found Ryan and Sean at the round table looking exhausted. They all were, it was a rough day. But Nikita didn't want to stop, every minute they spent wasting met another minute Amanda could be torturing Alex or worse. She didn't want to think about it. Ryan looked up to see Nikita walk in, followed by Michael and Owen. He relaxed once he knew the team was all safe. Sean however, looked nervous every time Nikita returned with no Alex in sight. He let out a big frustrated sigh.

"More clues?" He assumed.

"Unfortunately." Owen replies.

Sean's voice filled with anger, "That's just great, how long will Amanda keep up with this charade?"

Nikita looked at him with sadness, she felt his pain. "I know this is a long process Sean, but it's the only thing we can do right now."

He looks at her knowing she's right but he couldn't help sitting around feeling useless, he wanted to be out there in the fight. "This is the 4th clue right? Let's hope it's the last."

"What's the clue again?" Ryan asks.

"Through rose colored glasses she goes, down a rabbit hole. Passerby's be unaware, but this place is not a waste she finds, temptations through a looking glass." Nikita replies.

"More phrases? Amanda really loves her twisted fairytales doesn't she?" Ryan comments.

"Rabbit hole, looking glass… Alice in Wonderland anyone?" Sean questions.

"Okay let's break this down." Michael suggests. "Rose colored glasses, what does that mean?"

"To look at the world from a positive outlook." Ryan answers.

"Good, next hint. Down a rabbit hole."

"That's easy, it's a metaphor for an adventure into the unknown." Owen states.

"So I'm assuming this clue has something to do with you and Alex again right?" Sean says looking toward Nikita.

Nikita had been silent all this time thinking about all the bad situations Alex somehow always got herself into. She didn't deserve any of this.

"Nikita?" Michael's voice disrupts her thoughts. "What's on your mind?"

"Alex. She's just like Alice, always wandering into trouble she had no business being in the first place. She's so innocent."

Everyone took a moment of silence to reflect. Sean thought about how when he first met Alex, she tried to start a fight with him. He smiled, "She was always looking for trouble even if she didn't ask for it. That's just who she is. She's a fighter."

"That's right, I remember the first day Alex came in as a recruit. She tried to escape me, and Amanda." Michael adds. "She's a tough one."

"Michael, I got it!" Nikita finally speaks up again. They all look at her anxiously waiting for her response. "Remember when Alex got kidnapped from Vlad?"

"Wait, Alex was kidnapped before? Who's Vlad?" Sean asks. Of course he didn't know, this was before he met her and Alex never liked to talk about her past life as a sex slave.

Nikita looked at Sean, trying to find the right words. Michael answered for her. "Vlad was Alex's old pimp…" That was all Sean needed to know, he knew the basics from her file he read when he first met her but if he wanted to know more, he would have to wait for Alex to tell him herself. He nodded understanding.

Nikita continued her story. "Before that, she was at the nightclub…"

"That's right, Percy wanted her to steal the Oculus." Michael jumps in.

"Well naturally we couldn't let Percy have it so Alex and I arranged to bump into each other on the dance floor and handoff the gadget for me to record Zimmer a special message. We were going to give it back to him."

"But things went wrong." Michael continues her story. "There was a girl in the club Alex met in the bathroom."

"Her name was Irina, she came on the same container ship Alex did." Nikita adds, she loved how Michael was helping her tell this story. "Alex saw the bad shape she was in and wanted to help her."

"That's the rose colored glasses. She thought she could help her." Michael says.

"But she couldn't?" Sean questions.

Michael sighs, "Sadly things didn't turn out as planned… Irina led her down a rabbit hole."

"Irina told Vlad she was there and he took her hostage. Attempting to get her to admit her real identity." Nikita explains.

"Well we seemed to have solved the first part of the clue. Amanda wants us to search this nightclub?" Owen suggests. "What does the second part mean?"

"The looking glass is like a window into another world." Ryan jumps in, "You said Alex found Irina in a bathroom and was tempted to do drugs again? Maybe being back in this environment was like a new world to her."

"No, Alex wasn't tempted to do drugs, but she was tempted to help her. I was unaware of this at the time but she told me, if it wasn't for me, she would still be like her." Nikita replies.

Sean smiled, "That's like Alex, she always wants to help people." Nikita nods. "The looking glass could mean the mirror in the bathroom."

"So we know where to go now, the nightclub and we know what to find, the mirror." Michael checks his watch, "It's still early, anyone up for some dancing?" He winks at Nikita.

"Ya betcha." Nikita winks back.

* * *

Alex lays in her bed; trying to go over and over what her memories were telling her.

_"Division is evil, Nikita runs it. I have to stop her to stop Division. She promised she was going to shut it down! Division killed my papa."_

Though a part of her was still having a hard time believing it all and at times she would get splitting headaches as a result of over-thinking. Alex buried her face into a pillow, fighting off the screaming migraines.

_"This isn't real! Alex, snap out of it! Can't you see, something isn't right here."_

It was an internal struggle to keep these delusional thoughts away.

_"No! Get out of my head, I know what's real! Nikita shot me, I have to stop her!"_

Alex pushed harder. She wanted to lock this crazy person away.

_"I'm not crazy."_ Alex repeated to herself.

When the time came, Alex would be ready to see Nikita again. She had to take down Division. It was the only thing she knew was right in the world.

* * *

Nikita gets up to prepare for the new mission. She needed to change into more appropriate nightclub attire.

Sean walked up to her, stopping her in her tracks. "I want to help more." Sean says. "Let me come with you."

Nikita looks at Michael. "You already are helping, Birkhoff and Sonya still need you to watch their backs." Michael says

"But we found the second mole already, they're fine. I want to help find Alex." He tries to argue.

"How's Birkhoff and Sonya doing?" Nikita asks.

"I left them on sub level 12, he just started the deactivation process. I have Baker's phone now but I'm not sure how Amanda keeps track of his updates so we need to be careful." Sean replies.

"Speaking of Amanda, did you guys notice anyone shadowing you?" Ryan asks.

"I tried to keep a look out but I couldn't spot anyone suspicious." Owen says.

Ryan pulls up the store's surveillance tape and points to a man close to Nikita and Michael. "That man, I noticed in this shot he was staring at you two for quite a while and then seemingly disappeared."

"That's strange. Hey, Sean can you pull up Birkhoff's facial recognition program and track this guy for us?" Nikita asks.

Sean goes to Birkhoff's computer in the corner and tries to track the man. "What the… I lost him in the crowd. I can't see him enter or leave the building either."

"The watchman." Michael states.

"The who?" Owen questions.

"He was a Division legend." Nikita says.

"The watchman was Division's close surveillance expert." Michael begins, "He was able to change his appearance in a moment's notice, he made it a habit. His job was to surveil a target without making them aware that they were even being followed. Only Percy and Amanda knew his name, and what he really looked like."

"What's in his file?" Sean asks.

"Never had one." Nikita replies.

"His other job was to investigate Division agents. He did routine checks on everyone. Observed them in their cover lives, made sure they didn't break any rules." Michael says.

"Which is why he only reported to Percy and Amanda." Ryan concludes.

"Why is he working for Amanda now?" Owen asks.

"Amanda must want him to spy on us, make sure we were playing along with her game." Nikita says.

Sean has an idea, "If this guy is working for Amanda, he must have a way to contact her. If we grab him-"

"He can lead us to Amanda!" Ryan interrupts.

"But more importantly, Alex." Sean says glaring at Ryan for cutting him off.

"This is good! The watchman will probably follow us to the nightclub." Owen states.

"We'll be ready this time." Nikita says, "Michael and I will rendezvous in the club, while Owen can keep a look out."

"Once the watchman makes contact with Amanda, we trace communications and zero her location." Ryan says.

"Wait what about the second mole? Baker must have to update Amanda somehow, if she finds out what we're planning, Sonya can be in danger." Michael says.

"Birkhoff has it under control, the chip is almost deactivated." Ryan replies.

"Just in case though, Sean you should stay here and run interference. We need you to be the eyes and ears of this operation. Can you do that?" Michael asks.

Sean wants to object, but this seems like a good plan and he would be doing a huge part in helping find Alex. He nods, "I got your back."

* * *

Nikita, Owen and Michael arrive at La Notte, the nightclub where they would find the next clue. They walk up to the door when the bouncer stops them.

"Hey," He says looking at Nikita. "You look familiar? Are you a model? Or an actress?"

Nikita smirks. "I'm an assassin." The bouncer looks at Michael and Owen with wide eyes.

Owen rolls his eyes. "Dude, she's kidding."

Michael laughs. "Her an assassin? Come on."

"Right," He nods giving Nikita another glance. "Go in."

They thank him and walk inside.

"Assassin? Really?" Michael asks.

She laughs. "What? It was funny! Did you see his face?" Michael rolls his eyes but smirks while Owen laughs.

"Okay." Owen says, changing the subject. "I'll go keep a look out for our stalker out on the balcony upstairs."

Nikita nods, returning serious again. "Let us know if you find something… well someone."

Owen nods and leaves for the balcony. Michael and Nikita make their way through the dance floor. Michael leads Nikita to the VIP section.

"Ooh, VIP? Fancy." Nikita smiles looking at Michael.

He winks. "Only the best for the best."

Nikita grins as they sit at one of the tables. A waiter walks over to them.

"Hello, would guys like something to drink?" He sees Nikita and smirks, leaning towards her. "Unless you want something else?"

Nikita raises her eyebrows holding up her hand with her ring on it. "Sorry, engaged."

"Yeah." Michael says glaring at him. "To me."

The waiter looks at him with wide eyes. "Oh… right sorry. So uh... drinks?"

"Two glasses of wine, no ice." Michael tells him. He nods and walks away. Owen bursts out laughing over their coms.

"Nice." He says. "At least he got the hint."

"Shut up." Michael replies, still annoyed. Nikita places her hand over his, calming him down.

"Do you see anything yet?" Nikita asks changing the subject.

"Nope, all clear." Owen replies. "For now anyway."

Nikita switches her coms. "Sean, got anything?"

"Nothing yet." He tells them. The waiter comes back giving them their drinks then quickly walks away. Michael smirks at him but frowns when he sees Nikita looking around with a worried look on her face.

"Hey." Michael says squeezing her hand. "Relax, everything's going to be okay. Besides, we're at a nightclub we should at least look like we're having fun." Nikita nods giving him a small smile.

"I'm gonna use the restroom." She says. He nods knowing she was really going to go look for the clue. She gets up walking away. He takes a sip of his wine thinking about everything that's been going on. He wonders about Alex, where she is and how's she doing. An image of Amanda hurting Alex appears in his mind and his hand tightens around his glass. He knows what she is capable of and that scares him. He starts to panic as all the scenarios played in his head... the worst one, he couldn't think about, nor did he want to.

"Hey Michael? Michael? Michael!"

His head snaps up hearing Owen calling him. "What?"

"You okay?" He asks. "You don't look too good."

"Yeah," Michael sighs. "I was just thinking about Alex and what would happen if... I'm scared we're going to be too late."

"We won't. Alex is a strong girl, she'll be okay and we will find her. She will be safe again," Owen tells him.

Michael nods. "You're right, she'll be okay. We're going to bring her home."

"There's a man heading in the direction Nikita went." Sean says through their coms. "I think it's the watchman."

* * *

Nikita walks into the girl's bathroom. She notices a bunch of girls surrounding the mirrors doing their hair and makeup. One girl stumbles slightly almost falling over. Nikita goes to help her up.

"Thanks." She slurs, her eyes were glazed over. Nikita frowned knowing she was high. The girl walks away and Nikita begins to think of Alex.

_"It's gonna help you get clean." Nikita tells Alex who was standing in the sauna, her eyes wide._

_"Why are you doing this!" Alex screams, banging on the glass._

_"Let's call it a gift." She replies._

_"I know how to get clean okay, I know how to get clean. I just... I need to come down easy okay." Alex tells her frantically as she wipes the steam away from the glass._

_"There is no easy way down." Nikita says softly looking at her._

_Alex begins to get angry. "I don't need a sauna! I need a hit!"_

_"It's very rude to question a gift you know." Nikita says leaning against the sauna wall._

_"Please, please." Alex cries. "I'm gonna die in here."_

_"Look I know it hurts okay. Your nose won't stop running, your stomach is cramping and your head feels like it's gonna fall off. Believe me I know." Nikita wipes some fallen tears from her cheeks and turns to Alex. "I only promise you one thing, it's going to get worse…before it gets better."_

Nikita sighs holding back tears threatening to fall. It was a moment that would be burned in her memories forever. She knows what it feels like to lose control, she just hopes Alex is strong enough to overcome it. Especially if it's Amanda trying to control her.

Nikita shakes her head, needing to focus. She needed to find the next clue so she could save Alex. She couldn't search for it though, when there were so many people in the bathroom. She needed a distraction.

Nikita turns on her coms. "Michael, there's too many people in here, I need you to make a distraction.

He sighs. "Fine."

Owen spots the watchman and leaves the balcony. He follows him through the club but looses him in the crowd.

"Damn it." He sighs. He sees Michael standing up and walks over to him.

"I lost the-"

"Sorry, I need to create a distraction." Michael tells him. Owen looks at him confused but before he could say anything he punches him in the face. Owen's head snaps back as he groans in pain.

He glares at him. "What the hell?!"

"STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRL!" He yells wobbling as if he was drunk. Owen finally gets what he's doing and plays along.

"MAKE ME!" Owen yells back hitting him in the face.

"FIGHT!" Someone shouts as everyone gathers around them.

Nikita watches as all the girls run out of the bathroom. Well that was easy. Good Job Michael. Nikita quickly walks over to one of the mirrors.

"ARE YOU CLEAR!? STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRL!" Michael yells slurring his words over her coms.

Nikita rolls her eyes. "I'm clear."

Nikita focuses on the mirrors inspecting them for anything unusual. She notices one of the mirrors is hung loosely on the wall. She takes the mirror down and sees a white envelope taped to the back of it. She rips it off just as she hears some girls making their way back into the room. She quickly puts the mirror back on the wall, reaching the door as the girls start to walk in. She accidentally bumps into one them.

"Oh excuse me, sorry." Nikita tells the girl as she quickly walks out of the room. She was determined to get to Michael and Owen so they can figure out this new clue and find Alex. She finally finds them outside of the club leaning against the wall.

"You got kicked out?" She asks, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, you wanted a distraction." Michael counters, a smirk on his face.

"Touché." She laughs. Her face turns serious as she holds up the envelope. "I found another clue."

* * *

Sean was in ops using Birkhoff's facial recognition program, trying to find the watchman. His eyes widen when he sees him walk out of the club.

"The Watchman is walking out the back door near Nikita." Sean quickly tells Owen, Nikita and Michael through his coms.

They turn just in time to see the watchman walk off.

"HEY!" Owen yells. The watchman looks at them then starts running. Owen runs after him. Michael and Nikita go around to try and cut him off.

Owen sees the watchman takes off his coat, turns it inside out then puts it on again .

"He's changing his appearance. Look out for a tan raincoat!" Owen yells over the coms. Sean immediately begins tracking him down. Owen continues to follow him into a Café but loses him again,

"Damn it! I lost him." Owen groans.

"Where are you?" Sean asks.

"12th and Bennett." Owen tells him.

"Got him." Sean says. "He just hopped in a cab on Bennett. Following him now."

Owen runs out of the Café just as the watchman gets in the cab.

"Sean? You got him?" Owen asks.

"Did I not just say that?" Sean replies.

Owen rolls his eyes. "Just shut up and track the guy."

Sean laughs. "He's at 69th, just off of Amsterdam Ave."

"Thanks." Owen says as he hails a cab. One stops and he jumps in the car. "Go!" He yells.

The cab took him to an apartment building. He thanked the guy as he got out and walked towards the building.

"523 69th street, Apartment One." Owen tells Sean, Michael and Nikita as he goes into the apartment.

"Got it. He's transmitting directly into an I.P address in Quebec City. Pulling the coordinates now." Sean tells them. "He's all yours."

Owen burst through the door finding the watchmen sitting at a desk filled with different disguises.

"Hey." He says walking towards him, the man looks up at him. "Ready for your close-up?"

He tries to grab a gun but Owen stops him throwing him into a pole and banging his head on the table. Owen quickly grabs him before he can get up and throws him on a nearby table pinning him down.

"Hey, we got some trash to pick up," Owen says through his coms. Michael and Nikita come running in just as Owen knocks the guy out.

"What took ya so long?" Owen asks. "Did you decide to take a walk in the park?" They roll their eyes as Nikita takes the watchman's laptop.

Nikita turns on her coms. "Ryan we got the clue and the watchman. We're heading back to Division."

* * *

Amanda sat at her desk with her laptop out, waiting for intel from the watchman.

"Where is he?" She looks at the man in the hood, who shrugs his shoulders. "I expected him to be back by now."

She hovered her fingers over the keyboard and pulled up a surveillance image of the nightclub. The man looks over Amanda's shoulder. "I don't see Nikita."

"Birkhoff must have scrubbed her images by now."

Anne walks into the room, "Your friend Marcel, contacted Ari. he's willing to meet but only if you're there."

"Where?" Amanda asks.

"Serbia, I got a jet waiting for you at the local airport."

"I hate Serbia." Amanda states, unamused.

Amanda stares back at her laptop. She had a suspicious feeling, she closes her laptop and grabs her phone, following Anne out the door.

Before she leaves, Amanda turns around to speak to the man in the hood. "It's time for Alex to reunite with Nikita. You know where to take her."

* * *

Birkhoff was still working on deactivating Sonya's kill chip when Sean walked in.

"How's it going?" He asks looking between the two.

"Almost done. Just a few more minutes." Birkhoff tells him. "What about Nikki and the others?"

"They're driving back with the watchman and our next clue." Sean says. "Let's hope this one leads us to Alex."

"Sean?" Nikita asks through her coms.

"I'm here." He responds.

"How's deactivation going?" She asks.

"Good, Birkhoff should be done in a few minutes." Sean told her.

"How many minutes?" She asks.

Sean turns to Birkhoff. "How many minutes Birkhoff?"

"Five " He says,

"We're five minutes away, Nikita"

* * *

In the car, Amanda takes out her phone. She checks the "weather".

"That's strange, the weather inside Division hasn't changed at all."

Anne glances at Amanda, "That's good right?"

"I mean there's been no refresh on the data, no update at all."

* * *

Birkhoff looks at his computer to see how far away they are from deactivation. He lets out a sigh of relief seeing Deactivation Complete flash on his screen. He takes out the needle from Sonya's neck, holding a finger over the hole while he puts the needle down.

"It's done." Hey says.

Sonya looks up at him with wide eyes. "Seymour?"

He smiles. "You're safe." Sonya smiles up at him, sighing in relief.

Sean grins and switches on his coms. "Nikita, it's done. The chip is down."

"Good." Nikita says. "We're on our way back now,"

"See you soon." Sean says.

Nikita sighs in relief as she leans back in her seat. "I'm glad we saved one person."

Michael glances at her from the driver's seat. "We'll save Alex next."

* * *

"Maybe our friend on the inside is preoccupied?" Anne suggests.

"No, something isn't right here. He must be compromised." Amanda pulls up Sonya's kill chip activation button.

"Nikita, how did she-"

Amanda cuts Anne off, "Never underestimate Nikita."Anne stares at her. "Never underestimate me, either. Nikita will learn this lesson someday."

She lifts her phone up, hovering her finger over the activate button under Sonya's picture. "That someday is now. Goodbye Sonya."

She clicks the button and a notification pops up. Kill Chip Offline. "UGH BIRKHOFF!"

* * *

Nikita, Michael and Owen arrive back in ops. Nikita explains they found the watchman and their next clue.

Ryan nods. "Alright, it's getting late. I'm shutting down ops for the night so agents can get some rest. You guys should go home too."

Nikita shakes her head. "No, I'm gonna stay and work on this next clue."

Sean walks in. "Come on Nikita, you look exhausted. Go get some rest, it will be okay. I think Alex will be fine for one more night."

"Sean's right." Michael agrees. "We should go home and get some sleep."

Nikita sighs, too tired to argue. "Alright, let's go home."

* * *

Alex was sitting on her bed when the man in the hood came in. "Hey" he says.

She looks up at him, "What do you got there?"

The man holds out a tray with some tea on it. "I thought you'd like something to help clear your mind."

Alex eyes the drink, she wondered why this man was being so nice to her. "I don't know…"

"Why you don't like tea?"

"The last time I had tea, I got drugged and ended up in a straight jacket"

He raises his eyebrows, "Really?"

"Even though I can't see your face, I know you're judging me." She pauses, "It's not what you think, I'm not that crazy."

"I wasn't thinking that. So tea?"

"It's not drugged is it?"

"Why would I drug you? I'm trying to help you."

Alex eyes the tea again. "Fine just leave it over there." She points to a small desk in the corner of the room. He places the tea down.

"Bye Alex" He says as he walks out the door.

Alex rolls her eyes and gets up to walk over to the tea.

"Drugged." She laughs, "It's not drugged." She takes a sip and downs the whole cup. "Yeah, I feel fine."

In the next room, the man in the hood watches behind the one-way mirror as Alex begins to stumble toward her bed. She falls to the ground, unconscious.

"I'm sorry Alex, I said I would never drug you… but Amanda would."

* * *

Nikita sits on her bed thinking about Alex. More like worrying about Alex. She couldn't help it though. Alex meant so much to her and if anything bad happened to her she would never forgive herself. She frowns at the thought. _Alex, I hope you're okay._

"Hey," Michael says sitting next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know what your thinking, but you need to think positive. Tomorrow is a brand new day and we'll find Alex, I can feel it."

Nikita smiles. "You always know what to say, don't you?"

He winks. "Well, I am your fiancé." Nikita laughs giving him a kiss. "So, what does the envelope say?"

Nikita's eyes widen. "Oh yeah!" She gets up, grabbing her coat and takes out the white envelope containing the next clue. She opens it up and reads the clue. "The place where they lay to rest as your body hits the sand, out of time and out of place, I say goodbye to you my friend. I'll see you soon, Alex."

**Yay Sonya's kill chip is finally deactivated! I don't know about you guys but my one of my favorite parts in that ep was when Sonya looks up at Birkhoff and says "Seymour?" and he's goes. "You're safe." It was such a cute Bonya moment 3. Unfortunetly, in our story we still have to worry about a very confused Alex and a very scary Amanda. Beware, she's coming! Anyway looks like we have yet another clue! Any ideas where this one will lead them? Please give us your answers and thoughts on the chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9: Last Straw

**Hi! I am so sorry I took so long, I have been busy and I haven't had the time to write much. But I did finally finish chapter 9! But before all ya'll read my friend made another Salex vid so I suggest you check it out! It's awesome! It's called Sean & Alex Angels on the Moon. Alright so I know you have been waiting forever for this next chap so here it is! Enjoy :)**

**Shoutouts!: So there was only one guess for this clue and unfortunelty it wasn't right but it was a good guess so gold star for guessing and gold star for all who reviewed! Thanks guys!**

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Nikita.**

**Chapter 9: The Last Straw**

Flames engulfed Alex, as she struggled to breathe.

"Alex!" Nikita shouted at the young girl. "I'm going to get you out of here!"

"Nikita?" Alex says confused.

"It's me, you're safe now."

"What are we doing here?"

Nikita looks around, unaware of how they ended up in the basement of the Udinov Estate.

"I'm going to get you out." She says, "Don't worry Alex, we're going to get out of here, I promise."

Alex's bright blue eyes stare up at her. "Nikita, you can't save me."

Nikita shakes her head. Why was Alex saying this. Of course Nikita was going to save her. She had to save Alex.

"No, you're going to be safe. You're going to live and grow up and have a normal life!" Nikita yells back.

"Alpha team report." A voice echoes through her coms.

She tenses at the sound of the voice. "This is Alpha team."

"Why haven't I gotten an update?"

"Executing a perimeter sweep for survivors. Targets are down. Confirm with Roan."

"Michael?" Alex asks.

"Percy." Nikita says.

"It's Division. They're coming for me. You have to go Nikita! You have to let me go."

"No!" Nikita shakes her head. "I can't, Alex."

"You can't save me."

The flames began to spread rapidly. Nikita needed to get Alex out now.

Alex begins to cough, she was exposed to too much smoke.

"Hey Alex, stay with me!" Nikita yells. "Michael!" She begins to panic more as the smoke began to become thicker.

Alex's eyes were fluttering shut. "No, Alex! Stay with me! Wake up!"

Nikita tried desperately to shake Alex. "Wake up! Alex!" She was barely breathing now.

"_Wake up!_" The words echo in the dense air. The smoke blinding Nikita's vision through her gas mask.

She couldn't see Alex in front of her anymore. "Alex!" Her grasps on the girl was slipping, "Stay with me!"

"Nikita!" She hears Michael yell. "Wake up!"

* * *

Nikita jumps out of bed panting. Cold sweat on her brows. She sees Michael staring at her in disbelief. "Nikita." He says.

"Michael, it was nothing. Just a dream."

"It was a nightmare, Nikita." He gives her a look, patting the spot next to him on the bed. "You can tell me, what happened?"

She sits back down on the bed, not speaking.

"Nikita, look at me." She glances up at him. "What happen to Alex in your dream?"

"Alex… she…" Nikita pauses for a second. "I couldn't save her." Michael looks at her. "I promised her she would be safe, Michael. I let her down."

"No, Nikita. You didn't let her down, this isn't over yet. We're going to find her!"

Nikita shakes her head. "It was Operation Pale Fire."

Michael looks at her confused. "What about that mission?"

"That was part of my dream" She looks down. "Some twisted version of it. Michael, I promised her she would be safe. She was supposed to be safe, grow up and live a normal life. Far away from Division."

"Nikita," Michael begins. "You-"

"I know, I know Michael. I can't change the past." She looks up at him. "We're so close." She says as she reaches for Alex's note on the bedside table next to her. The clock strikes dawn, and a glimmer of sunlight peaks through a crack in the curtains.

Michael glances at the light as an optimistic sign. "Nikita, it's a new day." He smiles, "We're going to find Alex today."

* * *

Amanda sits in her new office, on her laptop. The man in the hood appears on the screen.

"Is Alex in place?" Amanda asks.

"Yes, she's going to be out cold for a couple hours until Nikita finds her." He replies.

"Good, the tea is working."

"Are you sure, Alex will-"

Amanda cuts him off, "Don't question it. Alex will do exactly what I want her to do."

He nods his head. "How much longer?"

"Just be patient, my friend." Amanda says. "Time will come soon."

* * *

Michael and Nikita walk into ops where Ryan, Birkhoff and Sean are going over some files on the Dirty Thirty. Birkhoff notices them just as they reach the table. He walks over to the two, happy they were okay.

"How are you guys doing?" He asks, looking between the two.

"Let's get to work." Nikita says flatly, ignoring his question. Birkhoff looks at her confused. Michael puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Just let her be." He says silently telling him she wasn't in a good mood. Birkhoff nods understanding.

"Have you found any useful info on the watchman's computer?" Nikita asks changing the subject, she looks over towards Sean and Ryan.

Sean shakes his head. "Just a bunch of creepy pictures of all of us."

"Lovely." Nikita replies sarcastically. "Were you able to pinpoint Amanda's location?"

Birkhoff sighs. "No, the messages were encrypted and we couldn't trace it."

Suddenly the watchman's laptop dings, causing them to turn to it confused. A new message notification pops up on the screen. They glance at each other wide eyed. Birkhoff opens the message and Amanda appears on the screen, a devious smile on her face.

"Amanda." Ryan says.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful night's sleep." She says.

Owen appears at the door and sees Amanda on the screen. "What do you want Amanda?" Owen exclaims.

"Owen! Nice to see you, or should I say Sam?"

He glares at her. "My memories may be gone, but I'll always remember what a crazy psycho bitch you are!"

"Birkhoff start a trace." Ryan says.

"A trace won't work, you'll never find me."

"If I can track Carmen Sandiego, I can find you bitch!" Birkhoff retorts.

Amanda laughs, "Then why haven't you found Alex yet?"

Sean tenses up, making a fist with his hands. "Where's Alex?" He yells.

"Follow the last clue, and you'll find Alex. You have 2 hours. Starting now."

The video feed shuts off.

"2 hours!" Sean yells. "Where's the last clue?" He looks at Nikita. "Let's figure it out now and go find Alex!"

Nikita takes out Alex's envelop and reads the last clue. "The place where they lay to rest as your body hit the sand, out of time and out of place, I say goodbye to you my friend."

"What the hell is wrong with Amanda? We'll never figure this out in time!" Sean exclaims.

"Everybody calm down." Ryan says, "Let's approach this like we have been doing for all the other clues."

"We've come this far, I'm not giving up." Owen adds.

Sean nods, sitting down to rest his leg again. "Nikita?" He says.

Nikita stops pacing and looks up at him. "Okay, let's break this down again."

"Any key words?" Michael asks.

"Sand? Could be the beach?" Ryan suggests.

"No, that wouldn't make sense. The beach house is gone."

"A place where they lay to rest… a graveyard?" Birkhoff questions.

Nikita shakes her head again. "No, these clues can't be that straight forward. It has to mean something."

"That leaves us with the last part. Out of time and out of place, I say goodbye to you my friend." Michael states.

"Goodbye to you my friend…" Nikita suddenly stops to think.

_"I don't think that's gonna work." Alex says. Nikita turns around to face the girl. Alex points her gun in her direction. "If I'm gonna die, I want to know." Nikita looks at her with confusion. "Did you do it?"_

_"Alex, what are you talking about?"_

_"Did you kill my father?" _

_"Put the gun down." Nikita says in a calm voice._

_"I want to hear you say it!" Alex shouts._

_"Calm down."_

_Three rounds, center mass. Nine millimeter hollow point. Zero penetration to the Kevlar lining. _

_Alex had shot Nikita to save her life. Her body fell to the ground in shock as Alex kneeled down next to her._

_"Tetrodotoxin." Alex says. "Good luck and Goodbye"_

"Nikita?" Michael calls her name after a while.

Nikita snaps out of her memory, she looks up at everyone in the room. "It wasn't the right time; I didn't know how to tell her."

"What was?" Sean asks.

"I'm the one who pulled the trigger. I killed Nikolai Udinov." There was silence in the room; no one knew how to respond to that. "The staging area." she continues. "That's where Alex is."

"Are you sure?" Ryan asks.

"Yes, it's where she confronted me about it. She was compromised and shot me as a warning and way to save my life." Nikita says as tears began to flow down her face. "Its where said goodbye to me…"

Michael walks up to her and cups her face in his hands, "Nikita, remember this isn't a goodbye. Let's bring her home."

"I'm coming with you." Sean speaks up. "Don't say anything about my leg; I need to see Alex again."

Michael nods. "Okay, let's get packing."

"I still like my catchphrase better." Owen says.

* * *

Time was ticking, Owen weaved the van through downtown New York as fast as he could. They had about 45 minutes left to get to Alex, but the staging area was about a good 20 minutes away.

Sean looks out the window nervously; he was worried about seeing Alex again. He feared she would hate him for leaving her that day she was taken. He kept reliving the moment over and over again wishing he was there to save her before it was too late. He was supposed to protect her and instead he let her get captured by that psycho bitch. He's seen what Amanda could do when she had captured and tortured Birkhoff. An image of Alex in Birkhoff's position appeared in his mind, he tried to shake the image out of his head but it wouldn't go away. His felt his heart beat rapidly in his chest as images of a beaten Alex form in his head, refusing to go. The moment these images flash in his mind, the pain in his chest deepens and his fist subconsciously tightens.

Michael places a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Sean glances at him then looks away. "What do you think?"

"Come on Mr. Navy SEAL; tell us what's on your mind?" Nikita says, turning to him.

Sean sighs. "Alex… I'm worried she's going to hate to me…"

"Hate you?" Michael asks. "Why would she hate you?"

"I let Amanda take her; I could have saved her… but I didn't." His voice broke. "Why wouldn't she hate me?"

"Sean, Alex loves you. She doesn't hate you, she could never hate you." Michael tells him. "And we talked about this, you know this isn't your fault."

"I just keep going back to that moment." Sean says looking down.

"I know, but you can't keep thinking about it. You tried to help her and that's what matters." Nikita replies. "As for Alex hating you, that's impossible. When Alex and I went our different paths, we could never hate each other enough to kill each other. People make mistakes. You know, they make bad choices. And then to make up for them, they make even worse ones. But if you give them a second chance, sometimes they surprise you."

She gives him a reassuring smile and reaches out to give him a hug but before she could Owen swerves the car causing her to fall out of her seat.

"We're here." He turned to them, smirking when he saw Nikita completely on top of Michael. "Oops."

"Um, Nikita you know I'll always be here for you, but maybe next time you could wear a seat belt." Michael says helping her up, a smirk on his face.

She sits up glaring at him. "I'll keep that in mind."

Michael chuckles and helps her out of the car while Sean and Owen step out as well. Once Nikita was situated she walked over to Sean giving him a hug.

She smiles. "Let's go get Alex." He nods, returning the smile.

Michael turns on his coms. "We're here."

"Alright, you guys have 25 minutes to get Alex." Ryan tells them.

Nikita looks at the building. "Here we go."

* * *

Michael, Owen, Sean and Nikita sneak through the gate and hide behind a wall. Michael peaks around and sees a bunch guards standing in front of the building.

"There are some guards patrolling the entrance." Michael tells Nikita, Sean and Owen. "They look like Gogol."

"Let's shoot em' down." Owen says.

Sean shakes his head. "We can't, bringing any attention to ourselves will only increase the risk of Amanda trying to hurt Alex more."

Nikita nods. "Sean's right we're going to have to sneak in. Owen and Michael, you two take out the guards. While they are distracted Sean and I will enter the building." They nod and go around the other side. Sean and Nikita wait a few minutes before they hear shouts. Sean looks over and sees Owen and Michael knocking out two guards. He nods to Nikita and they sneak inside the building. They check the main floor but found nothing so they decide to head upstairs.

"We're clear." Michael says through his coms. "We're coming up."

"Got it." Nikita says as they reach the final room that they haven't looked in. Nikita goes to open it but finds it locked. She sighs and kicks the door down. As the two walk inside and she feels herself step in some liquid. Confused she looks downs and sees a pool of lighter fluid surrounding her feet. Sean notices it too and follows the liquid until his eyes land on Alex laying on the floor also surrounded by lighter fluid with a timer next her signaling they had ten minutes left.

The two gasp and race towards Alex.

"Alex!" Nikita screams as she reaches the girl. Sean kneels down next to her.

"Alex?" He looks at Nikita. "Alex! What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know! Alex! Wake up!" Nikita starts to panic, "Michael! I need you!" She screams in her coms.

Michael appears next to her, "I'm here!"

Owen runs in after him and kneels down next to Alex. "Alex…" He looks at the poor girl with a worried expression. "What did Amanda do to you?"

Alex was in bad shape, she was unconscious and looked so pale.

"Michael, she's not waking up!" Nikita screams.

"Hold on." Michael checks Alex's pulse and sighs in relief.

"What is it?" Sean asks, trying to stay calm.

"Good news, she's still alive."

"And the bad news?" Owen asks.

"She's barely breathing, we need to get her back to Division now!"

The timer was slowly ticking down. 5 minutes left.

"We got to get out of here! The place is going to go up in flames!" Michael yells. He turns to Sean. "Can you pick up Alex? I'm gonna start up the van." Sean nods and Owen offers to help. The two gingerly lift up Alex, carrying her towards the door. Michael runs ahead of them so he can get to the car. Sean and Owen reach the stairs with Nikita running in front of them. They were a few steps away from the main floor when Sean groaned in pain.

"I'm sorry." Sean says through gritted teeth. "My leg."

Nikita opens her mouth to speak when a loud explosion goes off upstairs causing them to lurch forward and flames to rapidly spread towards them.

"I got the car! You guys need to get out of there!" Michael yells through the coms. "The place is about to collapse!"

"Noo, ya think?" Owen yells as they began to rush down the stairs. Suddenly Nikita stops eyes wide as she sees the flames lick at the wooden walls and floors. She starts to panic as the moments of her dream flooded her mind. Her whole body freezes unable to move as she imagines the whole room swallowed in flames.

"Nikita! Go!" Owen yells watching her with a mix of worry and confusion on his face. Sean coughs, the smoke filling his lungs as the flames grow bigger. Nikita turns to them, her eyes flicker to Sean desperately trying to shield Alex from the flames. She quickly snaps out of it, realizing that it was only a dream and right now she has to save Alex and get all of them out of here. With a new wave of determination flowing through her she rushes to the door, kicking it open. She then runs towards Michael, whose waiting in the van. She quickly swings open the back door, allowing Owen and Sean to carefully put Alex in the car. Once she was sure everyone was in and safe, she jumps in the car and Michael drives off just as the top of the building collapses. Michael moves onto the street as they see Firetrucks stop at the building with Firemen rushing to stop the flames.

Nikita turns on her coms. "We got her."

* * *

Michael jumps out of the car when they finally reach Division. He grabs Alex out of the back and rushes her to medical, passing by Ryan, Sonya and Birkhoff in ops as he does so. Nikita, Owen and Sean run in after him.

"Oh my God!" Birkhoff exclaims when he sees them. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"I think so." Nikita says, going over to him. "We found her unconscious and barely breathing, we don't know what Amanda did to her." Birkhoff can see she's panicking and places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, everything will be okay Nikki." He says with a reassuring smile. "Division has the best medical staff and Alex will be back to normal soon." Nikita gives him a small smile.

"You two okay?" Ryan asks, turning to Owen and Sean.

"I'm fine." Owen says, Sean nods in agreement but they both let out a small cough.

Ryan raises his eyebrows. "Go to medical and get checked for smoke inhalation." They sigh but head to medical anyway. Nikita decides to follow them but before she reaches the room, Owen stops her.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asks her. "It seemed like you froze when were in that building."

She nods. "I'm just glad Alex is back."

Owen smiles. "Me too."

They reach medical and Owen goes in just as Michael walks out. Nikita walks over to him.

"How is she?" Nikita asks.

"She's still unconscious." Michael tells her. "But the doctors say she should wake up soon."

Nikita sighs in relief. "Good."

"There's more." Michael adds grimly. "She has a gunshot wound on her thigh and signs of blunt force trauma, most likely from torture."

Nikita frowns, worried. "I want to see her."

Michael shakes his head. "She can't have any visitors right now, you'll be able too see her once she wakes up."

Nikita glances through a window to see Alex sleeping peacefully on her bed. Birkhoff is right, Alex is safe here now. Division has the best medical team.

Michael reaches for her hand, "How 'bout some lunch?" He smiles.

Nikita looks at Alex one last time, then back at Michael. "Veggie shakes?"

He laughs. "Sure, anything for you."

They walk away, as Alex begins to twitch her fingers.

**Ahhhh! Team Nikita finally found Alex! Yay! The question is will Alex be okay? Will she go back to normal like Birkhoff said? You're just gonna have to read and find out. Okay since there are no more clues, I thought it would still be fun to ask questions at the end of each chapter so let's see how well you guys know the Nikita cast shall we? **

**Which Nikita cast member guest starred on Vampire Diaries? **

**Please review and tell us your answers and thoughts on the chapter! Anyone who guesses right gets a Shoutout! and of course everyone who reviews gets gold stars! Thanks for Reading! **


	10. Chapter 10: Loose Cannon

**Sup guys! Whose excited for the new episode of Nikita tonight! I am! Though Micheal's new hand kinda creeps me out a little O.o Anyway here is chapter 10! Hope you guys like it! Oh and before I let you guys read, I just wanted to let you know I have a new twitter ForeverMina44, that I suggest you check out and follow because I will be posting updates on my stories including this one and I will even post some sneak peaks ;) Alright that's all I got for now, enjoy!  
**

**Shoutouts!: Alright there were two cast members who guest starred in TVD, so Congrats to nicolebetkhodu, Wootar16, yagmuysu, and Guest 17 to giving the name one of the correct cast members! and a double congrats to Alexandra Udinov for giving the name of both of them! Oh and of course the answer is: Dillon Casey (Sean) and Melinda Clarke (Amanda)! Gold stars for everyone who guessed and reviewed! Thanks guys!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita, unfortunately. **

**Chapter 10: Loose Cannon**

Sean paced outside of medical watching Alex through her window. Every glance he thought he saw her twitch, but when he stopped to stare, she was as still as a rock.

Owen walked up to him, "Hey man. Take it easy. When she's ready, she'll wake up. Give her some time."

"I know, it's not her I'm worried about anymore." Owen raises his eyebrows. Sean pulls his attention away from Alex for a moment, "I'm not sure if I'm ready to face her when she wakes up." He says looking at Owen. "What am I supposed to say?"

Owen sighs, looking at Alex. "I know I just met you, but from what I've seen, I believe you really do care for her. That's all Alex needs, someone who can look out for her the way you do. You don't need to say anything, just be there for her." He pats Sean on the back and walks away.

Sean looks back at Alex. "I'm here, Alex. I'm not going anywhere. Please wake up."

* * *

Owen walks into ops where he sees Birkhoff, Ryan and Sonya gathered at the round table.

"How's Alex doing?" Birkhoff asks, knowing he was just there, since he had told them earlier.

"She's still sleeping." Owen tells him.

Birkhoff frowns. "That's not good, she should have woken up already."

"What do you mean?" Owen asks worriedly.

"Sonya, can you bring me over Alex's medical charts?" Birkhoff asks turning to Sonya. She nods and leaves to get it. "There was signs of blunt force trauma… I'm afraid she might be in a coma."

Owen's eyes widened. "What?" _What the hell did Amanda do to her!_

"Hey," Ryan says giving them a reassuring look. "Alex is a strong girl, she'll wake up soon."

"I hope so." Owen says.

"What about you?" Ryan asks. "Have any luck remembering your past?"

Owen shakes his head. "I only know what Amanda told me. My name is Sam, I was a soldier and I killed all my friends." He sighs as Sonya walks back in, handing Birkhoff Alex's charts. "All I remember is Amanda with a needle."

"Funny, you mentioned that." Birkhoff says, a sad look on his face. Owen, Ryan and Sonya look at him worried and confused. "Alex's toxicology report showed some unknown substance in her system."

All the color drains from Owen's face as the words entered his mind. _Unknown Substance? Could Amanda have done what she did to him to Alex too?_ He shakes his head refusing to believe it.

"Does Nikita know about this?" Owen asks suddenly.

Birkhoff shakes his head looking at him confused. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Good, don't tell Nikita anything until we know exactly what the substance is." He tells them. "She needs a break from worrying about Alex so much."

Michael walks in, eyebrows raised. "Don't tell Nikita what?"

* * *

Nikita walked by medical again, determined to see any updates on Alex. She saw Sean still hovering by the window.

"Sean, you should take a break. Maybe get some lunch?"

He looks at her. "I don't want to leave Alex."

Nikita sighs and looks at Alex. "Any improvements?"

"No, she's been still this whole time. Every now and then I think I see her twitching out of the corner of my eye, but I could be wrong."

"Don't lose hope, she'll come around. Come on, let me make you a Veggie Shake." Nikita nods her head toward Division's cafeteria. It's been awhile since anybody ate down there, but all the appliances were still hooked up to the kitchen. "Come on, just one Veggie Shake." she says smiling.

Sean smiles back. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to leave Alex for 5 minutes."

* * *

A Division doctor came to check on Alex in her room. He changed some bandages on her cuts and bruises. Suddenly Alex grabbed his arm with such intense force.

"Hey!" He tried to shake her grip off.

Alex's eyes opened with alarm. "Where am I?" She shouted.

"You're in Division!"

"Division?" Alex asks confused. "I have to get out of here!"

She tries to get up but the doctor pins her down. "You're not going anywhere with these IVs hooked up to you"

"I want out of here!" Alex screams as she pushes the doctor away and rips out her IVs. "Get me out of here!"

Alex starts running down the halls of Division, confused and lost.

Sean was walking down the halls, on his way back to medical when he saw a glimpse of a girl running passed a hallway ahead of him. "Alex?"

He starts running after her. Taking a shortcut, he runs directly into Alex's path as she collides with him, knocking them both to the floor.

"Alex!" Sean yells, out of breath. "It's me! You're awake!" He exclaims, excited to see her again. "I'm so happy you're back!" He hugs her tightly.

Alex looks down at him confused. "I… uh, I'm so confused." She lifts herself off of him. "This is Division?"

"Yeah, I know I said wouldn't be apart of Division anymore but I had to make sure you were safe."

Alex looks around feeling dazed. "Where's Nikita?" She asks.

"She went to the training room." Alex shifts her eyes in the opposite direction, distracted. "Hey Alex, are you okay?"

She looks at him. "I... need to find Nikita." She turns around and starts running toward the training room.

"Alex wait!" Sean shouts after her, but she was long gone.

* * *

Sean runs into ops, a big smile on his face. "Alex is awake!"

Birkhoff sighs in relief. "Thank god, I thought she was going to be in a coma forever."

Sean looks at him, confused. "What? A coma?"

"How is she?" Michael asks changing the subject.

"Well, she was acting strange…she looked confused and was running around Division looking for Nikita." Sean explains.

"What!" Owen exclaims looking at him. "You let her run around Division by herself?"

"What's wrong with that?" He asks again confused.

"Alex, just woke up from a very traumatic experience, she's confused and had no idea what's going on." Owen replies angrily. "It's not safe for her to be running around by herself, she could hurt herself." Sean frowns, instantly feeling guilty. Maybe he should have followed her...

"Don't worry." Michael says noticing this. "You didn't know."

Ryan nods. "We need to find Alex before she hurts herself."

* * *

Nikita was in the training room by herself, doing some yoga to relax. She had her eyes closed, blocking out the sounds of the world around her.

Distant footsteps was approaching but Nikita ignored it. Suddenly she heard a loud crashing sound next to her. She opened her eyes. "Alex?"

Alex had run right into a training dummy, knocking it to the ground. The girl was laughing. "I'm so sorry Mister! Not again."

"Alex!" Nikita exclaimed, running up to the girl.

Alex looked scared and backed away, tripping over the fallen dummy.

"Alex! What are you doing here?" Nikita asks worriedly.

"I… I had to see you." She says, unsure of her next words. "Make sure you were in Division."

Nikita narrows her eyes. "Of course, I'm still here."

"Why?"

"You know why, Alex." Nikita responds, thinking Alex meant why she was still there waiting for her to wake up.

"I need to get out of here." Alex says, getting up. "This isn't right."

"What do you mean Alex?"

"I can't be here." She says, backing away from Nikita.

"Alex." Nikita approaches the girl. She didn't know what was wrong with her, Alex was acting strange. All she wanted to do was hug her, and tell her she's safe now. There's no need to be afraid of Amanda anymore.

"Stay away from me!" Alex suddenly screams.

Sean comes running into the room. "Alex!"

Alex looks at him, "I'm sorry, I have to go!" She screams, trying to run passed him. He grabs her waist, pulling her close to him. "Let me go! I want out of here!"

"Alex! Calm down!" Sean yells.

"Go where Alex?" Nikita screams.

Michael, Owen and Birkhoff appear in the doorway blocking Alex's attempts to escape Sean's grip around her.

Alex begins to cry, "I don't know what's going on! I don't belong here. Let me go! I want out of here!"

"Alex," Birkhoff says calmly. "Where do you think you are?"

"Division." She replies. "I can't be here!"

"That's good, she still remembers what Division is." Owen says.

"Why wouldn't she?" Nikita asks, walking up to them. She looks at Alex, who was still trying to fight Sean's grip. He held onto her so tightly, scared to ever let her go. "Alex, what's wrong? You're safe now. This is a safe place."

Alex was whimpering, trying to rock back and forth. "I'm so sorry, so sorry." Sean held on tighter. "I don't know what's wrong with me. My head hurts, I'm so confused."

"Nothing is wrong with you." Michael says.

Alex starts to cry again. "Please let me go."

"I can't Alex." Sean says.

"You're hurting me."

"Alex, please. Let me help you." Sean whispers into her ear. She calms down slightly and he loosens his grip a little.

"Hey Alex," Owen says "Do you remember what happen to you?" Alex shakes her head. "I was afraid of this."

"What is the last thing you remember?" Michael asks.

Alex looks around at everyone in the room. Sean was still holding onto her, there was no where to run. "I was shot." She says looking directly at Nikita. "I don't know who… or why. I just woke up here, confused. I'm so sorry." She lied, Alex knew exactly who shot her and why.

"You don't remember Amanda?" Birkhoff asks.

"Amanda?" Alex asks confused, shaking her head. "No… sorry I don't know."

"Do you remember us?" Michael asks. Alex shakes her head, a headache forming. "Alex…"

"Michael." She says. "I know who you are and who Nikita is. You're all Division."

Sean loosen his grip more and turns Alex around to face him. She looks away. "Alex…" He says softly, trying to find her eyes. "Do you remember me? It's me..."

Alex tries to look away, she couldn't understand what was going on. Why she was in Division. All she knew was that this place was bad and it needed to be shut down. "Alex." Sean repeats her name. "Please, can you just look at me?" Alex tries to pull away, her instincts telling her to run now. Get away from Division. Sean pulls her into a hug, her face buries in his chest. "Alex, I love you. Please don't run away again."

His voice sounded so familiar, the headaches subsided for a moment. She looks into his brown eyes, and gives him a small smile. "Sean."

Sean smiles at the mention of his name in her voice. "You're safe now, Alex. I'm not going to hurt you." And she believed him.

Alex visibly relaxed, signs almost back to normal. She steps back, looking at everyone in the room again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak anyone out… I just need some more time to think about what happened."

"I understand." Nikita finally says. "Take all the time you need Alex."

Alex gives her a small smile and walks out the door.

* * *

Nikita, Michael, Birkhoff and Owen return to ops where they find Ryan at the round table.

"How's Alex?" Ryan asks facing them.

"She just needs some time alone." Nikita says leaning against the table. "Adjust to being back, she's been through a lot."

"Well, whatever Amanda did to her it's not the same thing she did to me." Owen tells them. "Alex still remembers who she is and what Division is."

"That's good." Ryan replies.

Birkhoff frowns. "I don't think this is the last of Amanda's lessons though."

"Amanda wanted Alex for a reason." Owen agrees. "The way we got her back so easily doesn't add up."

Nikita closes her eyes sighing. She was already worried about Alex, so she didn't want to think about Amanda and what her motives were right now. She really wished everyone would stop worrying, she was tired of worrying.

"Hey," Michael says, causing her to open her eyes and look at him. He places his hands on her arms. "Relax, right now the important thing is that Alex is back safe and sound." He gives her a reassuring smile then turns to face the others, "We'll deal with Amanda later."

* * *

Alex walked toward the old recruit rooms, she slipped through one of the doors and slid down against the wall. Taking a moment to breathe.

"What am I going to do?" she questions out loud. _"I need to get away from this place. Division killed my father... I have no family anymore. This isn't right, Division needs to be stopped, I need to stop Nikita."_

There's a knock on the door. "Alex, it's me Sean. Can I come in?"

She doesn't say anything, only curls up into a ball. _"Leave me alone, everyone in Division is evil. I can't trust anyone." _

Sean walks into the room, sitting beside Alex on the ground. "Hey."

"I don't know what to say." She says to the ground.

"I don't either." Sean replies.

She looks up at him, "Really?"

Sean smiles, "Yeah. I've waited so long to see you again. I didn't think about what else I would say. I just wanted to see you again, you know... to make sure you were okay."

Alex wonders why he was being so nice to her. "Thanks." She turns to him, thinking about her messed up memories. She saw flashes of Sean here and there, but she couldn't put the pieces together. Somehow she didn't think he was a bad person. She remembers him not technically being a part of Division.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Sean asks her.

Alex looks at Sean again and smiles, he looked so concerned. "Listen, I'm going to be honest with you." She says, turning to face him fully. He looks at her, finding her bright blue eyes. She looks away slightly blushing, "My memories are a little messed up right now. I don't remember how I got here or what happen, and I don't remember exactly what went on between us but…" She looks back at him, "But what you told me earlier… you know… about you-"

"Alex, I'm here for you." He cuts her off. "I just want you to know that, I'll always be here for you."

"I believe you." It was the truth, something was telling her deep down he was telling her the truth.

He gets up and offers her his hand. "Are you ready to make a comeback Miss Udinov?"

Alex laughs. "Yes, I am." She says as she grabs his hand.

* * *

Sean leads Alex to ops where the others are. When they reach the round table, Nikita is hesitant to approach her, afraid she would run off again.

"It's okay." Sean tells her, noticing this. Alex gives Nikita a faux smile and pulls her into a hug.

"I'm happy to be back." Alex lies. Nikita sighs in relief, and hugs her back.

"Aww," Birkhoff smiles. "BFF's!"

They break from the hug. "Shut up, Birkhoff." Nikita and Alex reply in unison.

"Well, it's true." Birkhoff replies shrugging, everyone laughs.

Ryan walks in, they turn to him. "Sorry, it's urgent. The President has a top secret mission for us."

"Wait," Michael replies giving him a look. "That's not what we agreed on. We're supposed to clean up Division, not go on missions for hire."

"I know, but this is the President." He says, "We can't say no to her."

Nikita raises her eyebrows. "Why not?"

Ryan sighs. "She has been worried about Division for some time now. She's afraid of agents being kidnapped and exposed."

"Sorry." Alex replies sheepishly.

Nikita shakes her head. "Don't worry about it."

"The President has a contingency plan." Ryan explains. "She doesn't want any more assents potentially exposed. If we're exposed, she won't hesitate to wipe us all out."

"What!" Nikita yells angrily. The others look at Ryan, a mix of anger and confusion in their faces.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Michael asks angry as well.

"If I told you when we started this that the president had a gun to our heads, how would you have reacted?" Ryan says looking between the two.

"The real question is, how would everyone else in division react?" Michael replies.

Ryan nods. "Exactly, under Percy it would be obey or die. I come in, promise a way out and people learn that there is one small catch..."

"There would be no predicting their actions." Michael finished, sighing.

"So, what are we supposed to do? Keep it on the down low?" Birkhoff asks.

Nikita nods, though she didn't like it. "For now," She looks at everyone. "I know we're not one big happy family, but we are in this together. For better or for worse… I need to believe it's for the better."

Owen nods. "Alright, what's the mission?"

Ryan hands them the blue file containing the information about their mission. They begin to read the file and their eyes widen in shock. It said they had to assassinate the President of Chad while he's in Paris. They look up at Ryan, anger in their eyes, they weren't supposed to be doing these kinds of missions anymore.

Alex looks up at Ryan. "This is a kill mission?"

Ryan nods. "Yes."

"No." Michael says glaring at him. "You told us there would be no more kill missions."

"It's just one mission." Ryan tries to reason.

Birkhoff shakes his head. "No, first there's one mission then there's more and it won't stop."

Nikita looks over the file again and considers it. She rather not do this but if it meant protecting the people she cared about from getting hurt…she may just have to.

Alex shakes her head. "This isn't right."

Sean nods. "We're not supposed to be doing this, Division is supposed to be different now." Alex stands up and runs out of the room clearly upset. Sean sighs, giving them one more look before following her. Nikita sighs she knows they're right but they didn't really have a choice right now.

Michael looks over the files again. "If we're going to do this, we have to do it quietly with no foot print." Nikita glances at Michael who meets her gaze. He knows this isn't right, and seeing Alex so upset isn't helping either but he couldn't risk them being wiped out… he just couldn't.

"Are we really going to do this?" Owen asks looking between the two.

Nikita sighs. "It looks like we have to."

"I still don't agree with this." Birkhoff replies. "But, I'll help you because we're all in this together."

"What about Sean and Alex?" Ryan asks.

"I'll talk to them" Nikita says, looking towards the door. She needed Alex with her on this, she couldn't imagine doing this mission without her.

* * *

Alex was walking at full speed toward the training room. She didn't know where else to go.

"Alex!" Sean called, "Wait up!" He sprinted up to her. "Why are you always in such a hurry?"

"Huh?" Alex stops and turns to face him. He looks at her. "I just need to get out of here." She says, looking around dazed again. Something else was on her mind.

Sean blocks her path. "I'll come with you."

She shakes her head, "I don't know where to go, or what to do now." It was strange being back in the place for years she was trying to destroy. Everything was so different. "I'm scared."

"What are you scared of?" He asks her, concerned.

Alex glances at him, then stares at the ground, shaking her head. "That's the thing… I don't know. My head keeps telling me to run, get as far away from everyone and this place."

Sean looks at her, "Oh, but-"

"But part of me is telling me to stay." She says, looking up at him again. "It's like I have some unfinished business here."

"Well, what do you want to do Alex?"

"I just need some time to figure things out."

Sean felt like he was losing Alex all over again. He didn't know what to say, he never knew what to say. She was waiting for him to say something, anything. Convince her staying in Division was a good thing, but even he knew it wasn't. He never wanted to be here. Sean contemplated asking Alex to run away with him again. She could escape, that's what she wanted. To get out of here. "Alex, I-"

"Alex!" Nikita called out from down the hall. "There you are!"

Alex glanced at her and looked back at Sean. Her eyes timid. Sean stepped back, giving Nikita space to talk to Alex. He slowly walked away, as Alex watched him disappear around a corner, she turned to look at Nikita.

"Alex, hey about the mission…" Nikita begins.

"So Paris mission is still on I see." Alex says with destine in her voice.

"Hey come on, it's not all bad."

"Nikita, it's a kill mission. We agreed, Division was supposed to be done with these kinds of things."

"Pierre Batouala, the current President of Chad is a very corrupt man." Alex stares at her, waiting for more information. "Last night John Little, Batouala's CIA handler was found dead in an ally in Paris. Just before his death, Little stole a list containing the names of every covert American operative working overseas in the oil industry."

"So? Let the CIA handle this then." Alex says crossing her arms. "You don't need me."

"Alex, if Batouala uses this list to prove CIA involvement, he can kick the American oil companies out of his country and make a sweethearts deal with the Russians." Alex continues to stare at Nikita, waiting for her to give her a better reason for killing this man. Nikita sighs. "He's attending a reception in Paris tomorrow night. There, he'll hand over the file to a Russian intelligence officer. We need to take Batouala out at the party and retrieve the list before he meets with the Russians."

"Nikita, you're talking about another assassination, something we keep saying Division doesn't do anymore."

"The list changes things, Alex. Batouala has seen it. American agents all over the world will be exposed if we don't find him and make that list disappear."

"That doesn't mean he deserves to die." Alex says. "Why does the President want us to assassinate this man? Why not just retrieve the list?" Nikita looks at her confused. "Once he doesn't have it, he won't have evidence to claim the CIA was involved. The Russians aren't stupid, they're not going to want to work with this man once they find out he has nothing to offer them. Case closed."

Nikita looks at her, hesitating. "Come on Alex, Batouala is not some innocent. He runs a corrupt government who tortures and murders anyone who gets in his way."

"I don't know Nikita… something about a kill mission for the President doesn't seem right."

"If we don't go through with this, a lot of innocent people could die."

"The people inside the CIA? Or the people inside of here?"

"Both." Nikita replies. She questions why Alex was trying to argue with her over this. The old Alex would've jumped at the chance to help take down any corrupted person who took away innocent lives.

Alex sighs. "So you're trying to win over Danforth and the President?" Nikita stares at her. "As long as they see Division as an assent, they won't try to wipe us out?"

Nikita was getting upset, she needed Alex on her side. "If it's the life of one really bad guy versus 300 lives, guess who loses?" She says annoyed.

Alex rolls her eyes. Nothing has changed. Everyone kept telling her Division was supposed to be new, different, better than when Percy and Amanda was running it and Oversight had a gun to their heads. "We're supposed to be cleaning this place up, Nikita. Not making it dirty again."

"It's not like it was before. No one is holding a gun to anyone's head anymore." Nikita says, trying to convince Alex. "I have the gun now, and I choose when and if I want to use it." Alex shakes her head. "It's under control."

"As long as the government is calling the shots. We'll never be in control."

"Alex, please. It's just one mission, a good mission. I wouldn't have agreed to do this if I didn't think it was a good mission."

"So Division goes back to the way it was when Percy and Amanda was running it?" Alex says, "Kill missions for hire, Oversight threatening to wipe us out at any moment? When does it end?"

"It's just one mission." Nikita says again, "I can't do this without you." Alex looks at her, conflicted. "Please Alex? We need you."

Alex knew this wasn't right. But she can't just stand by and watch Nikita go after this man. She had to do something.

"Alex, can I count on you?" Nikita asks. Alex puts on a brave face and sighs. Nikita visibly relaxes, knowing she had won her over.

"You know, I've always wanted to go to Paris." Alex says.

Nikita smiles. "That's my girl, I'm glad you're back."

**Whaaaat! A kill mission! O.o There supposed to be done with that! Looks like things are going to be as easy as Team Nikita thought specially with a very confused unstable Alex running around. Things are going to even more intense, be prepared. But, Yay! Alex is back, safe and sound! Things with her are going back to normal now...or are they? You're gonna have to read and find out and who knows I might just post a little sneak peak on my twitter so look out for it ;). First thing's first though...you gotta review! lol Please tell us what you thought about this chapter and see if you can answer our new question which is:**

**Which cast member starred in Kick Ass?**

**There ya go! Tell us your answers! Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11: Cloaks and Daggers

**Hi everyone! I am so sorry this took longer than usual. I've been a little busy and the last two eps of Nikita have been very depressing. I mean Ryan got shot and he's in a coma! Poor Ryan! :( Glad he's gonna be okay though, Owen whose Sam whose evil...sigh I'm really missing Owen :( and then Sean dies! WTH! Why! It's just so heartbreaking :( I'm gonna miss our Navy Seal :( Don't worry though in our story Sean isn't going anywhere cuz Sean is awesome and Alex deserves a happy ending. Yay Salex 3 lol. Ryan wont be shot and of course Owen is still gonna be Owen...Sam will still be there but well you'll see what will happen but Owen is still gonna be Owen :) Okay enough with my blabbering. On to Ch.11! Things are about to get even crazier ;) Enjoy!**

**Shoutouts!: Okay last chapter I asked who starred in Kick Ass and it was...Lyndsy! My friend also told me Xander (Percy) was in it too but I didn't know that haha. Anyways the people who guessed Lyndsy are still getting shoutouts so congrats to nicolebetkhodu, Wootar16, and CaskettAllTheWay for guessing right :) and Gold stars for everyone who guessed and reviewed. Thanks guys! **

**Chapter 11: Cloaks and Daggers  
**

Nikita and Alex walk back into ops where the rest of the team was.

"Everything okay?" Sean asks walking up to Alex.

Alex fakes a smile. "Yeah, everything's fine."

Michael turns to Nikita. "What's the plan?"

"Alex has our backs." Nikita tells him.

Birkhoff looks at Alex, his eyebrows raised. "Really?" He thought she was still against this whole thing and if he was being honest he was to. He was one hundred percent against this mission but these guys were family and he would always have their backs.

"Birkhoff?" Nikita asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked around and saw everyone was staring at him.

"Oh, sorry." He replies sheepishly. "I was just…never mind." They continue to stare at him. "What? You know I got your backs. Big happy family remember? Now will you guys stop staring at me like that, it's creepy!" They roll their eyes. Sean looks at Alex, a frown on his face, he's upset Alex is choosing to stay in Division but if she was staying, then he would too. He had to protect her and he wasn't about to let her leave his side again.

"I'm in too." Sean says, tearing his gaze from Alex to look at Michael and Nikita.

Ryan nods. "Okay, it looks like it's settled. I'll go call Danforth."

Ryan leaves the room and Michael puts up Batouala's picture on the monitor.

"Alright, the President of Chad is going to be attending a reception for an "Economic Freedom for all" Summit in Paris tomorrow night." He explains. "We need to make his death look like a heart attack."

"Smart." Sean replies. "It will give us an opportunity to search his body for the flash drive."

Michael nods. "Birkhoff and Ryan will run the op in Ryan's office."

Birkhoff looks at him. "Wait, why Ryan's office?"

"Because no one else knows about the blue file, we need to keep it a secret." Nikita tells him.

"Why not?" He asks. "We should tell Sonya and the others. It would be a lot easier if we had the rest of Division to back us up."

Nikita shakes her head. "No, if they find out about Danforth's contingency plan..."

"They'll run." Michael finishes.

"I agree with Birkhoff." Alex speaks up. Michael and Nikita stare at her. "I mean, he has a point. We can't keep lying to them; they have the right to know if their lives are in danger."

"Alex, now isn't the right time." Nikita says. "Sometimes people think they want the truth, but when they find out, they wish they never knew."

Alex couldn't believe what Nikita was saying. After all the lies that Nikita had kept from her, the kill chips and her father, she expected more from the person who was supposed to be her mentor. Alex rolled her eyes and began to turn towards the door. Nikita grabs her arm and turns the girl around.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Alex sighs. "I'm going to go get ready for Paris."

"You're still on board?" Nikita asks, surprised. She thought Alex was about to walk out on her again.

"Of course." Alex replies, opening the door. "I made you a promise, and I always keep my promises."

She walks away leaving Nikita baffled. Was that some kind of insult? Nikita always kept her promises.

Sean looks at Nikita and places a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about Alex. We still have your back." He says before following Alex out the door.

* * *

Michael and Nikita walk down the hall, heading towards the shooting rage so they could pack their weapons. Nikita couldn't stop thinking about Alex and her behavior towards her. She went through so much to get her back, they all did, but she was acting like she was the bad guy. She didn't understand. Her mind wandered to the conversation they had earlier about telling the rest of Division about the blue files. Maybe, Alex is right. Maybe, they should tell everyone. No, they couldn't. It was too dangerous…for everyone.

"Hey." Michael says noticing her distress. "What's wrong?"

"I was just…do you think Alex is right Michael?" She asks looking up at him. "About telling the rest of Division what's going on?"

He sighs. "It's a bad idea. If we tell them everything, it will only make things worse. They still trust us right now, knowing that they are doing the right thing. If they find out that they could die any minute there might be a mutiny and we don't want that to happen."

Nikita nods, glad that Michael agrees with her. "That's what I thought too, but why is Alex trying so hard to fight me on this?"

"Alex is only doing what she was taught to do." He replies, then glances at her. "What you taught her to do. To stand up for what she believes in. You should be proud of her."

Nikita thinks about this then smiles. "I am proud of her. She is doing exactly what she should do. Standing up for the things she cares about and believes in. That's all I could ask for."

"Exactly." Michael agrees. "Alex is growing up. You're not always going to agree on every little thing but the important thing is even though you two don't agree, you'll always have each other's backs."

She smiles again. "You're right."

Michael smirks. "Aren't I always?"

"Shut up." Nikita laughs as they arrive at the shooting range.

* * *

Amanda sits in her office with a laptop in front of her. She was monitoring a phone call.

"Commander Danforth, we're a go on your mission." Ryan says over the phone. He paced back and forth in his office alone.

"I told the CIA to back off Batouala. Worry instead about extracting their agents that could be exposed." Danforth replies. "That should give us some breathing room for a few days."

"The team should be in Paris by the morning." Ryan informs him.

"Nikita and Michael have been added to the pre-clear list. They won't have any trouble getting through security."

"Thanks. Owen, Alex, and Sean will be on sight, in their positions too. We have everything under control."

"Good, Fletcher. The President thanks you for your service to this country." Danforth hangs up his phone. He had no idea Amanda had a bug in his car and was listening to the entire conversation.

Amanda looks up from her desk and stares at Anne, who was watching her from across the room.

"Alex is joining the fight; I thought you said she would want to destroy Division, why is she helping Nikita?" Anne questions.

"There's something else going on." Amanda says, opening up a search engine on her laptop. She types in the President of Chad's name.

Anne walks around Amanda, looking over her shoulder. "President Batouala is attending a reception in Paris tomorrow." She reads.

Amanda smiles. "Anne, call Zoe and tell her I have a job for her."

* * *

Michael and Nikita walk into the shooting range to see Owen already there. He packed some bullets into a gun and shot them off at one of the targets. He sees Nikita walk up to him.

"Hey, you were quiet earlier." She says. "Everything okay?"

"I don't know." He replies frowning. "You know I'll always have your back Nikita, but I just never expected you to give me a kill order." He gives her a small smile before he walks away.

Nikita sighs. Maybe this mission isn't a good idea after all. Alex, Birkhoff and Owen seem so against it, she didn't want them to do something they didn't think was right. Was this right? Was this the only way to stop Batouala from selling the list? Michael walks over to her and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Is killing Batouala the only justifiable way?" Nikita asks him.

Michael nods. "It's the only way."

Nikita still feels unsure. She begins to think about what Alex said earlier. How they only needed to get the list away from him. No one had to die. She decides not to say anything though and gives Michael a fake smile to change the subject. He smiles back and grabs some guns off the shelves to pack.

* * *

Alex found herself walking towards the old recruit rooms again. This seemed to be her go-to place for hiding when she wanted to be alone. She slipped in through the door and slid down against the wall. She counted down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... A knock on the door sounded. Alex smiled. Predictable. Sean had come to comfort her. He walks in and sits down beside her, not saying a word.

After a moment of silence, Alex speaks up. "Aren't you tired of lying?"

Sean looks up at her. "I am, but I can see Nikita's point of view. She thinks this is what's best. You have to trust her."

"I don't trust her." Alex says. "She thinks she's always right. But she's wrong this time!"

Sean looks at Alex, shocked at her aggressiveness. He turns to fully face her. "Alex, you know people make mistakes. They make bad choices… but-"

"But if you give them a second chance…" She says, remembering what Nikita used to tell her all the time.

"Sometimes they surprise you." Sean finishes.

"That's something Nikita used to say all the time…" Alex says. She gives a small smile at the thought. Her face becomes serious for a moment. "Sean, do you ever think that maybe we're not changing Division? Maybe it's changing us?"

Sean stares at her, trying to think about what she had just said.

Before he could reply Alex speaks up again. "Nikita keeps saying that this is her choice. No one has a gun to our heads. But she's wrong. Danforth and the President won't hesitate to wipe us all out if we fail." Alex looks at Sean with such intensity in her eyes. "She's so blinded by the truth; she can't see how bad this situation is turning. Division can not be saved." Alex stands up. "I promised Nikita I would go to Paris with her, but that doesn't mean I'm going to allow her to dictate what I believe in! After this is all over, she'll see."

Sean watches as Alex walks out of the door. He contemplated following her again, but it was best he left her alone for a bit to calm down. He thought about Alex's behavior. She wasn't acting like herself. It looked like a complete 180 to him. He decided he should go find Michael and Nikita and have a little chat with them, maybe convince Nikita to see Alex's side of things.

* * *

Sean walks into the shooting range and finds Michael and Nikita packing weapons.

"Hey, can I talk to you guys?" He asks, going over to them.

Nikita nods. "What's up?"

"I'm not sure what's been going on with Alex lately." He says frowning. "I think she's changed somehow. She's been acting a lot different ever since we got her back."

"Different how?" Michael asks confused.

"She's more driven and forceful with her opinions…it reminds me of what she was like when we first met." Sean explains.

_Reminds me of Nikita, _Michael thought as he glances at his fiancé. He turns back to Sean and replies. "Alex was stuck with Amanda for a couple days, it's bound to put someone on edge." He grabs the bag of weapons and gives him a reassuring smile then leaves the room.

Sean sighs running his hand through his hair. Nikita smiles, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Alex just needs some time to calm down." She tells him.

"Yeah, you're right." He agrees, but the frown didn't leave his face. "What would happen if we failed this mission?"

Nikita looks at him confused. _Why would he think we would fail?_ "We're not going to fail as long as everyone sticks to the plan. You have the most important job, are you ready for it?" He nods then walks away, leaving her alone.

As Sean leaves the room he justifies that what they are about to do is for the greater good and he trusts the government because that's just who he is. He is a Navy SEAL after all and is all about duty and honor.

* * *

Sonya watches Birkhoff type on the computer in his office, an annoyed look on her face.

"Tell me what you and your super friends are hiding from us!" She exclaims. "Tell me what's wrong?"

"There's nothing to tell." He replies not looking away from his computer. He hated lying to her like this, but he had to protect her. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if she got hurt...or worse. He mentally shook his head; he didn't want to think like that.

Alex walks in. "Hey Birkhoff, I need your help…." She trails off when she notices Sonya there.

"Help with what?" Sonya asks looking from Alex to Birkhoff.

Birkhoff finally looks at her. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"You promised us no more lies." Sonya frowns, staring at Birkhoff, though her words were meant for them both.

Alex nods. "Sonya is right. No more lies. Everyone deserves the truth. The truth is-"

"The jet is ready Alex, Nikita is waiting for you." Ryan says, interrupting her as he walks into the room. Sonya looks frustrated, she gives Birkhoff a pleading look but he looks away. She sighs and walks out of the room. Ryan motions Alex to hurry but she just glares at him. Birkhoff looks at Alex, wondering what she was doing.

Alex turns to Birkhoff. "We'll talk later." She gives Ryan one more glare then follows him out of the room.

Birkhoff goes back to his computer and pulls up a file on Danforth. He begins to wonder what Alex wanted to talk about. His mind drifts to Sonya and he immediately feels the guilt for lying to her. He really hated it. _It's for her protection. _He thought_. I have to protect her. _With this in his head he looks back at Danforth's picture. He stares at it a minute before deciding to dig up some dirt on him in case the Paris mission goes bad.

* * *

"I haven't been to Paris in a while."

"I think you'll enjoy it, Zoe." Amanda tells the woman sitting in front of her as she pours them a cup of tea. "It's a bit rainy this time of year but the trip should be lucrative for you."

"Nikita is really going to assassinate the President of Chad?" Zoe questions. "Where do I come in? You want me to stop her?"

Amanda smiles. "Oh no. In fact, I want you to help her." She replies, taking a sip of her tea.

"You want me to help Nikita?"

"Yes." Amanda says, putting her tea down.

"Why? I thought you were at war with her?"

"This is not a war, Zoe." Amanda replies. "This is a lesson."

Zoe raises her eyebrows. "And what are you trying to teach her this time?" She asks

Amanda picks up her tea again. "Oh, Nikita isn't in the lesson plan for today. I have another student in mind."

"The Udinov girl?" Amanda nods and takes a sip of her tea. Zoe laughs. "Great, so am I helping Alex, or am I helping Nikita kill the man?"

"You're going to be helping Nikita. But keep an eye on Alex. She might surprise you."

* * *

Birkhoff and Ryan are in Ryan's office preparing for the mission. Birkhoff was monitoring the hotel where the Economic Freedom for all Summit reception is taking place. He spots a silver Mercedes Benz pull up to the building.

"Nice, but mine is still better." Birkhoff comments, staring at the car as Michael steps out. Ryan rolls his eyes.

Michael grins. "Thanks, and you can keep thinking that." He tosses his keys to the Valet who looks at him with wide eyes. He had to admit he almost looked like James Bond stepping out of the car like that. The Valet goes to help Nikita out of the car but Michael pushes him aside and opens the door for Nikita instead. She places her legs out the door revealing her black high cut dress as she grabs Michael's waiting hand.

Birkhoff whistles. "I don't know what's hotter; the car or Nikki's sexy legs in that dress."

"I heard that." Michael warns as he helps Nikita out of the car. Nikita rolls her eyes as she squeezes Michael's hand. He smiles at her as the two go over to the entrance where Owen is posing as security. Michael and Nikita walk up to him.

"Name please?" Owen asks. Michael glares at him.

"Lewis, party of two." Nikita says playing along.

"Sorry, you're not on the list." He says looking up from his clipboard. Nikita hits him in the arm and he laughs. "Ow, I'm kidding! You can go in." The two roll their eyes and walk into the party.

Nikita radios over her coms. "We're in."

"Is everyone in position?" Ryan asks. Michael and Nikita look around the room. They spot Sean walking around serving drinks in a fancy white tux. Sean catches their eye and nods in acknowledgement.

"Sean is in position." Michael tells him.

"Where's our Russian oil heiress?" Ryan says. Michael turns around and sees Alex enter the building carrying a case with a bottle of wine in it.

Michael stops her. "Ah, Alexandra Udinov, nice to make your acquaintance." Alex notices Batouala's Head of Security looking in their direction so she plays along, holding out her hand for Michael to kiss. He takes her hand and kisses it. "I'm Dr. Michael Lewis."

Alex smiles. "Wow! A doctor!"

Nikita steps up to them. "Oh Michael, stop bragging."

He smirks. "What? It's not every day I get to be a Doctor." Nikita laughs.

Batouala's head of security walks over to Alex. "Hello, Ms. Udinov. Pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." She replies. She hands him the case of wine. "It's a gift for the President."

"Thank you Ms. Udinov, but we must examine the bottle and check for any tampering." He says.

She nods. "I understand."

"Please enjoy the party in the meantime." He replies.

Owen radios over the coms. "The President of Chad has just arrived." They turn to see Batouala walk in.

Alex walks up to him. Batouala recognizes her. "Ah, well if it isn't Ms. Alexandra Udinov." He says holding out his hand to greet her. "The heir of Zetrov, the billion dollar company built by her father, Nikolai Udinov. He was a great man."

"President Batouala, I've heard so much about you. It is an honor to make your acquaintance." Alex says, shaking his hand. "You knew my Father?"

"Not personally." He admits. "But I've heard so much about him, it is an honor to meet his beautiful daughter." Alex smiles, walking towards a table. They sit down. "So tell me, Ms. Udinov, what brings you to Paris this evening? Business or Pleasure?"

"Business." Alex replies. She leans in to whisper quietly. "I know about the list."

* * *

Michael and Nikita walk over to the bar where Sean is gathering some glasses. Nikita looks across the room and sees Alex and President of Chad talking. Nikita's eyes narrow suspiciously when she notices Alex leaning towards him like she's whispering something.

"I'll be right back." She says to Sean and Michael. They look at her confused as she leaves the bar.

"What's the status?" Ryan asks through the coms.

"The wine is still in holding." Michael tells him.

Nikita walks over to Alex just in time to hear her whisper something about a deal. Nikita quickly goes up to the table.

"Hi, my name is Nicole Lewis, a journalist, and I was wondering if I could interview Ms. Udinov for an article about Zetrov." She says glancing at Alex.

Alex glares at her, wondering what she is doing. "I'm a little busy right now."

Batouala looks between the two girls confused, but he gets up and greats Nikita.

"Ms. Lewis." He says, holding out his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Mrs., actually." Nikita replies, shaking his hand. The President notices her wedding ring. "President Batouala, it's an honor."

"Ah, I did not know that you are married."

Michael walks up to the two. "Dr. Lewis." He introduces himself. "I see you've met my wife."

"Your wife is a lovely young lady. You are a lucky man, Dr. Lewis." Batouala says.

Batouala's Head of Security returns with Alex's bottle of wine. "Sir, a gift from Ms. Udinov." He says, showing off the bottle.

"I thought some wine was a nice way to start our new working relationship." Alex states.

"An excellent idea." Batouala agrees, he looks at his Head of Security. "I'll need a waiter for this."

The man motions for Sean to come over. "Take care of this okay?" He hands him the bottle of wine.

Sean takes the bottle and glances at Alex. She shifts in her seat, knowing what he was about to do. Sean takes out a corkscrew and turns around.

"Working relationship?" Nikita asks. "Can I get the exclusive?"

Michael laughs. "This one. So ambitious to get the cover story."

Alex stands up and walks over to Nikita. "Ms. Lewis, I'll be happy to give you the exclusive." She pulls Nikita aside and whispers. "What are you doing? This wasn't part of the plan."

"What am I doing? What are you doing? I saw you whispering something to Batouala."

"I was just making small talk, like you told me to do." Alex replies, angrily.

"Okay, so what's this about a new working relationship?" Nikita asks, suspicious. Alex was supposed to be distracting him until he had a heart attack from the wine, not making some sort of deal behind her back.

"Are you really interviewing me right now?"

"Yes. Now tell me what you were doing."

"I have everything under control, trust me." Alex whispers, angrily. Nikita was ruining her plans. She was so close to finalizing a deal with Batouala. He was about to give her the flash drive instead of the Russian operative.

Sean finally pops open the bottle of wine. Alex glances at him, distracted. She watches as he slips a drug into the bottle and pours the President of Chad a glass. _"No"_ She thought. Batouala can't die before he gives her the flash drive. He walks up to her, handing her a glass of wine. "A toast to my lovely guest, Ms. Udinov." He looks at Nikita. "And to you Mrs. Lewis. I look forward to reading your article. You must send me a copy when you are finished?"

Nikita smiles. "Will do." She gives Alex a look, silently telling her to follow the plan.

Alex places her glass down on the table next to her and turns her back away from Nikita. She faces the President. "What's wrong?" He asks.

"Oh I don't drink." Alex replies.

Sean walks by their table again, carrying a tray full of glasses.

"Oh I see, maybe we should toast to something else?"

"Oh no, it's okay." Alex says as she turns around, intentionally bumping into Sean. He loses his grip on his tray, causing the glasses to crash to the floor. "Opps. I'm so sorry, sir!"

* * *

Birkhoff watches his computer as he monitors the security cams. He notices Michael, Nikita, Alex and Batouala gathered around a table with Sean on the ground trying to pick up broken glass.

"What happened?" Ryan asks through his coms.

"Alex caused a little spill." Owen, who witnessed the scene, replies.

"Is the wine still good?" Ryan says.

"The bottle is still on the table." Owen tells him.

Ryan radios over to Sean. "Owen updated me, pour him a new glass." Sean doesn't answer.

Owen sees he is still picking up the glass. "Sean's a little busy cleaning up the mess."

"Batouala needs to have a heart attack for this plan to work." Ryan replies frustrated.

Batouala's head of security walks up to the President. "Your other guest has arrived, sir."

The President checks his watch. "She's early." He turns to Alex. "Sorry Ms. Udinov, but we'll have to make a rain check on that toast.

Alex nods. "Of course, goodbye sir." She watches as Batouala leaves, a frown on her face. This isn't supposed to happen. This wasn't a part of her plan.

"What was that?" Nikita asks her angrily. "That was not a part of the plan."

"Sorry!" Alex lies. "It was an accident!" Nikita sighs feeling annoyed.

"What were you doing going up to Alex in the first place?" Michael asks turning to her.

"I caught Alex making some sort of deal with the President." Nikita tells him.

"What? No I wasn't! I think you're hearing things." Alex denies. Sean gives her look as if he knows she was lying but she looks away.

"Not to interrupt, but Batouala is about to meet his new guest." Owen says through the coms.

"Birkhoff, search for the Russian buyer." Ryan tells him.

He shakes his head. "It can't be her; she's still stuck at the airport."

Michael frowns. "There's another buyer?"

"Owen, can you get eyes on our party crasher?" Ryan asks.

"Batouala is walking up to a woman in a red dress by table 46." Owen replies.

Nikita looks over, her eyes widen. "That's Zoe."

"Who's Zoe?" Alex asks, confused.

Nikita looks at her. "Zoe is a rouge Division agent."

"What the hell is a rouge Division agent doing there?" Ryan yells over the coms.

"She's pretending to be the Russian buyer." Michael replies.

"This isn't good, guys. We need to stop her from getting that list!" Owen informs the group through the coms.

"I'll take care of it." Alex says. She tries to take a step forward but Nikita stops her.

"Alex, you can't. Your cover."

"Nikita is right." Sean says. "You can't risk Alexandra Udinov getting exposed."

"My cover?" Alex laughs. "Hate to break it to you but it's not a cover. It's who I am." She pushes Nikita aside. "Get out of my way."

"Hey! What are you doing?" Nikita yells.

"I'm getting that list!" Alex says as she walks towards Zoe.

"What is Alex doing? Stop her!" Ryan yells through the coms.

"She's going after Zoe, that's good. Why stop her?" Sean counters.

"President Batouala!" Alex exclaims, walking up to him. He had the flash drive containing the list in his hand, ready to hand over to Zoe.

He pauses and looks toward her. "Ms. Udinov, I'm sorry I kept you waiting but I had important business to take care of."

"About my offer earlier, I thought we had a deal?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Vixen here has offered me a better one. I hope you understand, it is business." Batouala hands Zoe the flash drive.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. President." Zoe says. Alex watches as Zoe reaches for something hidden under a napkin on the table next to her.

Instinctively, Alex yells "Gun!" as she tries to push Batouala out of the way but it was too late. Zoe shot off a bullet, hitting Batouala in the chest.

Party guests panic and run frantically. Alex starts running after Zoe. "Come back here you bitch! That file is mine!" She yells.

* * *

Michael, Nikita and Sean run up to President Batouala in the all the chaos.

"Mr. President! Try not to move." Sean warns him, his white tux staining crimson. There was too much blood.

"Dr. Lewis, help me." Batouala choked out. Michael examines the bullet wound and frowns, there was no saving him. "The file." The President says, his last words before his heart stops beating.

Michael sighs and closes Batouala's eyes. Their mission may have been to assassinate this man, but Batouala didn't deserve to die like this.

"I'm going after Alex!" Nikita yells.

"You mean Zoe right?" Michael corrects her.

Nikita stares at him and takes off her shoes. "Hold these for me." She turns and starts running out the door."

"Guys, Zoe is heading for the south exit. You need to grab her before she hits the street." Birkhoff informs them.

"I'm on it." Owen says though his coms. He was closer to the south side than Alex and Nikita.

* * *

Alex chases Zoe into the hotel kitchen. She successfully tackles the girl to the ground, throwing her a punch.

"Give me that flash drive!" Alex shouts.

Zoe elbows Alex in the face. "You're gonna have to kill me first!"

"Alex!" Nikita shouts, entering the kitchen.

"I'm a little busy here!" Alex replies as Zoe kicks her in the stomach.

Nikita throws a dish at Zoe but she ducks. Zoe runs toward Nikita, trying to attack her.

"Just like the old days, huh Nikita?" Zoe says, trying to punch Nikita in the face.

"Yeah, kicking your ass does feel familiar." Nikita retorts. "Who sent you Zoe? It's gotta be Amanda."

"Man, she's pissed at you."

Alex regains her position and kicks Zoe in the back with her heel, sending the woman forward. Nikita punches her in the face. Zoe screams and grabs a glass, throwing it in Nikita's direction.

"What? You're her little minion now?" Nikita says, ducking Zoe's attacks. "I gotta warn you, it didn't really work out for her last one."

"I'm just here doing a job… for a lot of money. I'm a free agent now." Zoe looks at Alex. "You know what it's like right, Alex?"

"What?" Alex asks confused. Zoe grabs a metal tea pot and whacks Alex in the face with it. Alex falls to the ground, holding her head. Zoe uses this opportunity to make a run for it.

Nikita runs over to Alex, who was sitting on the ground holding her head. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh, my head hurts." Alex replies.

Nikita pushes Alex's hands away from her head and frowns when she sees blood. "We've got to get this checked out."

"No, I'm okay!" Alex tries to stand up. She makes it a few feet toward a kitchen counter and stops, feeling dizzy.

Owen runs into the room. "Nikita! Where's Zoe?"

"You didn't see her coming?" Nikita asks?

"No, she must have had another way out. She knew we were here tonight." He notices Alex bent over a kitchen counter holding her head again. "Are you two okay?" He asks.

Alex groans. "I just have a headache. It's not a big deal."

"You're bleeding!" Owen yells.

"Nikita, status?" Ryan asks over coms.

"Target is down, but Zoe has the flash drive." She replies, glancing at Alex.

Alex slowly sits down on the kitchen floor, her head swirling. Worried, Nikita keels down next to her. She grabs the girl's face, looking into her eyes. Nikita notices Alex's pupils were uneven.

Michael and Sean enter the room. Sean immediately notices Alex sitting on the ground with a cut on her head, he rushes to her side. "What happened?" He asks.

"I think Alex has a concussion." Nikita replies. She turns to look at Alex. "Hey, how are you feeling? Can you walk?"

Alex shakes her head, trying to get rid of the headaches. Nikita frowns again and looks at Sean, silently asking him for help.

Sean nods, and tries to lift Alex up in his arms. "Why are you always getting hurt?" He says trying to lighten the mood. "It's always in the same spot too."

Alex laughs. "I don't know… it's just inevitable I guess."

Sean sighs. "Come on, let's get you back home."

"What are we going to do now? This mission was a failure." Owen says.

"No, it's not over yet." Nikita replies. "We're going to get that bitch!"

**Uh oh, this does not look good. Zoe has the file and Alex is definitely acting strange. "After this is all over, she'll see." O.o What does that mean? What is Alex planning? Nothing good that's for sure. You guys have any thoughts on what she's up to? ****Oh and of course before I forget your next question! Here it is:**

**Which cast member starred in X-men? **

**Please review and tell us your thoughts about the chapter, what Alex is up to and your answer to our question! Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12: Domino Effect

**Sooo I know you guys are probably a little mad at me for not updating in like forever but I had to take a break for awhile. Don't worry though I am back and ready to write! Oh and I just wanna give a huge thanks and a bunch of gold stars to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! You guys rock! Oh and if you haven't already please check out CatchMyBreath's Nikita story Burning Bridges! It's awesome! So are you guys ready for this chapter? It's gonna be...you know what I'll just let you read it and see ;) haha. Alright everyone I give you chapter 12! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I totally forgot to do this last chapter but I'm doing it now. I do not own Nikita...because if I did there would be a full fourth season and many more seasons after that. Stupid CW. **

**Shoutouts!: Okay so last chapter I asked who starred in Xmen right? So congrats to Nicolebetkhodu, Wootar16, SkiTTdaTTle, Liz, Codekiki12, and SophieStark for guessing right! The answer was Aaron Stanford! Aka: Birkhoff! Aka: Nerd! haha. Oh and Gold stars for everyone who guessed and reviewed! Thanks guys!**

**Chapter 12: Domino Effect**

The team returns to Division and heads to Ops where they find Birkhoff messing with one of the computers.

"Is everyone okay?" Birkhoff asks. He notices Alex is still bleeding from the cut on her forehead. "Wow, Zoe got you good!" He exclaims. Alex rolls her eyes.

Ryan walks in frustrated. "Ryan?" Nikita frowns. "What's wrong?"

"I just got off the phone with Danforth." Ryan begins. "The President found out about what happened in Paris and isn't happy."

"Well of course she's upset!" Alex replies angrily. "What is she gonna do now? Wipe us out?"

"Whoa, Alex." Nikita tells her. "Calm down. We can still fix this. The President doesn't know what happened in Paris, so if we can get her the flash drive and the real killer she will have to reconsider the contingency plan."

Alex groans holding her head in pain. "You should take Alex to medical." Michael says to Sean. "Get her head checked out."

"I'm fine, Michael." Alex says.

Owen looks at her. "You're bleeding."

"Come on Alex, it won't take long." Sean tells her.

She sighs. "Okay." Sean grabs her hand as they leave the room.

Ryan hands Nikita a piece of paper with a sketch of her face on it. "What is this?" Nikita asks.

"Um, isn't that your face?" Birkhoff says.

Nikita looks at him. "Nooo, its Michael's."

Michael walks over and looks at the picture. "That's-"

"I know," Nikita says rolling her eyes.

"Anyway," Ryan says. "The French police has a warrant out looking for someone who looks a lot like you."

"They got the wrong person!" Nikita yells.

"What are we gonna do?" Owen asks.

"We need to find Zoe and the list." Michael says.

"Zoe told us she would be making a lot of money with this job." Nikita explains. "I think she wants to sell the list. Nerd, find out where the original buyer Batouala was supposed to meet with is. Zoe will probably want to get into contact with her and make a deal."

"I'm on it." He says as he walks out of the room.

* * *

A Division doctor had just finished stitching Alex's wound on her head when Sean opened the door to check on her. "Hey, feeling better?" He says, peeking his head inside.

Alex smiles at him. "Yeah. It's no big deal."

"Good, you had me a little worried there for a minute." He says, walking up to her. He grabs a nearby chair and sits down.

"What do you mean?" Alex asks.

"Well, lately you've been acting a little-"

"Different?" Alex cuts him off. Sean nods, hoping her didn't offend her. "Listen, I don't care what Nikita or anyone says. She's just upset I don't always agree with her. I have the right to make my own choices."

"You do, but that stunt you pulled at the reception… what were you thinking?"

"I was so close, Sean! He was about to give me the list and then Nikita ruined it. She always has to have it her way. It's not fair."

"You should have told me, I would have helped you."

Alex sighs. "Well it's too late now. Zoe has the flash drive."

* * *

Zoe walks into Amanda's office. She tosses the flash drive on her desk. "Here, I hope you're happy, it wasn't easy to get. Nikita really kicked my ass, I wasn't sure I was going to get out of there alive." She waits for Amanda to reply. Instead, she was forced to stare at the back of a tall leather chair. "Hey, turn around and talk to me."

The figure who turns around was not who she was expecting. "Who are you?" Zoe asks.

"Just a friend of Amanda's… I'm just visiting. She'll be back in a minute." The man in the hood replies.

Zoe stares at him, frustrated. She didn't have time to waste, she wanted her money now. "What's up with the hood indoors dude? You supposed to be Robin Hood or something?"

He laughs, "Funny. No, I was just cold earlier." He takes off his hood and extends a hand. "Hi, I'm-"

"JR!" Amanda walks into the room, "So nice to see you again."

He shrugs and plops down in the chair again, relaxing. "Nice to see you too I guess."

Amanda gives him a rude look. She turns her attention toward Zoe. "Zoe, you're back. How was Paris?"

"I got your flash drive, now where's my money?"

"Still impatient, I see." JR picks up the flash drive and hands it to Amanda.

"Look, this job burned me. Completely." Amanda inserts the flash drive into her laptop, checking to see if it was the real deal. She smiles at Zoe. "Every intelligence agency in the world knows my face now." Zoe continues. "And I only agreed to do that because you promised me so much money that I would never have to work again."

Amanda ejects the flash drive and holds it out. "Well here you are." She says, smiling. "Payment in full."

Zoe takes it from her hand. "What am I supposed to do with this? Leak it on the internet?" She tosses it back on Amanda's desk.

"What is this?" JR asks, picking it up again.

Amanda takes it from him. "This list is valuable." She hands it to Zoe again. "Auction it off to the highest bidder and you'll have more money than you can spend in a life time."

"I don't have time for that!" Zoe exclaims. "I need to disappear now!"

"Well there's always the Russians. They came back from Paris empty handed. You should call them."

Zoe takes the flash drive from Amanda's hand. "They were going to give that Batouala guy billions…" Zoe says, smiling. "I only need millions."

"Billions?" JR exclaims. "Wow, that's a good deal!"

Zoe smiles. "Thanks for everything, Amanda." She starts to head for the door. "Good luck on your war with Division, I hope you get them."

"Be careful Zoe." Amanda warns her. "Nikita can't be happy. She planned such a lovely assassination and we ruined it for her. She will be hunting us both."

"I'm not going to lose any sleep over that… from what you said, Nikita is going to be too busy to worry about little old me." She walks out the door.

JR turns to face Amanda. "What does she mean by that?"

Amanda sighs. "Remember our friend Alex?"

"Yes, you told me she was the key to getting everything we wanted… when is that gonna happen?"

"You're impatient too." Amanda rolls her eyes. "Don't worry, we will help your friend. It's going to take some time first, Alex is only the beginning."

"Well, that's ominous."

Amanda laughs. "Oh JR, I think I know where you get your humor from."

* * *

Sonya walks into Birkhoff's office where he is busy typing on his computer.

"Hey, you got a minute?" She asks as she walks over to his desk. He looks up surprised and quickly clicks a couple buttons, hiding what he's working on.

"Uh, yeah." He replies nervously. "What's up?"

Sonya frowns seeing what he did and goes over to his computer. "What are you hiding?" She asks angrily.

"It's nothing!" He tells her. She sighs, pushing him aside and unlocks his computer. His eyes widen. "How did you-"

She gives him a look. "I'm a hacker too and your password was my name." Birkhoff blushes and looks down. She smiles but then she remembers she was still angry and turns back to his computer. She looks at the files that popped up, stopping when she sees one about Danforth.

"What is this?" She asks him.

His head snaps up. "Uh, it's nothing, trust me-"

"How can I?" She says looking at him with hurt in her eyes. "When I know you're lying to me."

Birkhoff sighs. "I'm sorry-"

"How could you keep this from me?" Sonya exclaims.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you." He says standing in front of her.

"But you didn't." She says. "You kept lying and pretending and saying I was imagining things. What else are you hiding?"

Birkhoff walks over to a computer. "The President has a contingency plan. She's going to send in the SEALS to wipe us out."

She sighs. "I'm not surprised."

He looks at her confused. "You aren't?"

"I understand the President has to have a contingency plan." She tells him. "And I understand why you lied to me but it wasn't your choice to keep this info from me."

"I know." He sighs. "I just wanted to protect to you. After that whole kill chip thing... I just don't want to lose you again."

Sonya smiles. "I appreciate your concern Seymour, but I don't need you to protect me." She gives him a hug.

He hugs her back. "I promise no more secrets."

* * *

Sean followed Alex down the hallway toward Birkhoff's office. She was going on and on about wanting to fix everything.

"Come on! We need to find more information." Alex says, walking through the door.

"Alex, hold on." Sean says, stopping when he sees they had interrupted Birkhoff and Sonya hugging.

Alex glances at them. "Oh, I'm sorry… are we-"

"No, it's okay." Birkhoff says, "What's up Princess?"

"Don't call me Princess." Alex says, glaring at him. She wasn't in the mood for his banter; she was on a mission to find out more information on Danforth.

"Come on, Alex. Lighten up." Sean tells her. He walks up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Alex shrugs it off and walks over to Birkhoff's computers. "Perfect, you already have a file on him." She says, looking at the picture of Danforth on the screen.

"Uh yeah." Birkhoff runs over to his computer, nervous. "What do you need this for?"

"I keep thinking about what Nikita told me." Alex frowns. "She keeps saying that all of this is her choice."

Birkhoff looks at her. "Well, Danforth and the President threatening to wipe out Division is not a choice. It's a hostage crisis. It's like Oversight and Clean Sweep all over again."

Alex smiles at him. "I'm glad you understand!"

"That got me thinking." Birkhoff says, sitting down at his desk. "If there's one thing we learned from Oversight, it's that everybody has a weakness." He presses a couple buttons on his computer, pulling up more files on Danforth. "Even the guy holding the gun on you."

Sonya walks up to the computer. "So this is what you've been working on."

"Yeah, I was trying to figure out a way to prove that Danforth wasn't trustworthy." Birkhoff says.

"That's a great idea!" Alex exclaims. "Ryan and Nikita would finally have to open their eyes."

Sean walks over to them, looking over the files. "I don't think some dirty little secret from his past will cut it. We need to know what he's up to now… where he goes, who he talks to, what he's hiding."

Alex looks at him surprised. "You want to help us?"

"Yeah." He looks at Alex. "Listen, you know my Mother was a part of Oversight. I didn't like that she had a contingency plan either. And now the President has one too? It's not right. We are doing our best to clean this place up; we don't need that kind of threat lingering over our heads every day."

"So what are you guys going to do?" Sonya asks. "Are you going to follow Danforth?"

"Actually, I've already been tracking his cell signal." Birkhoff says, pulling up a map. "Well, that's oddly peculiar." He says staring at the screen.

"What is it?" Alex says looking over his shoulder.

"His cell signal shows that he's been in the woods for the last couple hours."

"What is he doing in the woods?" Sonya asks.

"I don't know, camping?" Birkhoff says sarcastically.

"Did you refresh the data?" Sean asks.

"Yeah, still no movement." Birkhoff replies.

"We should go check this out, Sean." Alex tells him.

"Wait, what about the others?" Birkhoff asks. "Should we tell them? I mean, Nikki is still trying to find Zoe and the list. What if she asks where you two are?"

"Make something up… say we went shopping or something." Alex replies, heading toward the door.

"Yeah, the Princess can never have enough shoes." Sean laughs, following her.

"Hey!" Alex slaps him in the shoulder. "I'm not a Princess!"

"Okay, you guys go. We got you covered." Sonya says.

"Yeah, but be careful out there." Birkhoff warns them. "And hurry before Nikki gets suspicious."

* * *

Nikita, Michael, Owen and Ryan walk into ops.

"Tell me you got a lead on that bitch!" Nikita yells.

"Which one?" Michael says. "There's no sign of Zoe or Amanda."

Nikita sighs then looks around. "Where is everyone?" She wonders. She looks at Birkhoff's station and sees he's not there. "Where's Nerd?" Nikita asks. Annoyed, no one had an answer for her, she decided to run off, looking for him herself.

"Birkhoff!" Nikita shouts, opening the door to his office.

Birkhoff jumps. "What!"

"Hey, have you found out where the original buyer is yet?" She asks.

"Uh, hold on." He turns to his computer. "She's on her way to New York right now. Her plane is about to land in three hours."

Michael walks in. "She still wants the list."

"Any idea where the sale is gonna be?" Owen asks walking in after him.

"I was monitoring some of her known associates and she called one of them before the flight." Birkhoff tells her.

"Good, what did you find out?" Nikita asks.

"She called some guy who owns a nightclub in Chinatown and put her and a friend on the VIP list for tonight." He explains.

Nikita groans. "We have to go clubbing again?"

Michael looks at her. "Aww come on it's not so bad."

She turns to him. "You guys got us kicked out last time!"

Owen laughs. "Okay, but if you need another distraction, warn me before you sucker punch a guy in the face!"

Nikita rolls her eyes. "Okay, we got three hours to prepare, where's Alex and Sean?" Birkhoff looks around the room nervously. She narrows her eyes at him. "Nerd, what are you hiding?"

He looks at her. "Huh? Oh I don't know, maybe they went shopping or something. Why don't you call them?"

"Fine, I will." Nikita says picking up her phone.

* * *

Sean and Alex were busy tracking Danforth's cell signal in the middle of the woods.

"Still no movement?" Sean asks her.

"Yeah." Alex replies, checking the map on her phone. "What do you think he's been doing out here all this time?" She questions.

Sean looks out around the woods. "I don't know, but I don't like the looks of this."

They walk towards a clearing and notice soldiers guarding what looks like a military base. "I didn't see anything on the map that looks like a military base." Alex questions.

Sean looks around, studying it. "This can't be a base."

"Then what is it?" Alex asks. Suddenly Alex's cell phone rings. She pulls out it out quickly; worried the guards below would hear her. "Hello?"

"Alex, where are you?" Nikita asks her. Alex could hear the worry in her voice.

"Oh, I just needed some time to clear my head." She lied. "Everything is fine."

"Nerd said you went shopping, is Sean with you?"

"Uh, yeah. Retail therapy is a good way to relax."

"Okay. Well, can you get back here now?" Nikita asks. "We got a lead on Zoe."

Alex looks at Sean. "Nikita wants us back now." She whispers.

"Tell her we'll be back in a couple hours." Sean whispers back.

Alex nods, and lifts her phone back up to her ear. "Nikita-"

"Alex, Zoe is going to trade the list in about 3 hours." Nikita cuts her off "We need you."

"Okay, hold on. We're on our way back."

"3 hours, Alex. Hurry."

Alex hangs up her phone and rolls her eyes. "We can't leave now." Sean says.

"We're aren't." Alex replies. "Not until we find out what's going on here. Nikita can wait."

Sean nods his head. "Come on, this way. Those guards aren't patrolling that entrance. We can be in and out before anyone notices."

* * *

Nikita puts down her phone. "Alex and Sean are on their way back."

Birkhoff sits back in his chair glad Nikita bought his lie. "So, what's the plan?"

"We wait and when Alex gets back we go kick Zoe's ass." Nikita tells him.

"How are we going to get on the VIP list?" Owen asks.

Ryan walks in the room. "Have you guys found Alex yet?"

Michael nods. "Yeah, she went shopping with Sean."

"Shopping?" Ryan ponders, he shakes his head. "Never mind, when they get back we need Alex to pretend to be Alexandra Udinov again and get her and Nikita on the VIP list."

Owen frowns, annoyed at Ryan's comment about Alex pretending to be a person who is technically her identity but he decides not to say anything. "What about me, Michael and Sean?" Owen asks.

"Unfortunately, the club has a limit of plus ones so you guys need to wait down stairs and be backup in case anything goes wrong."

"Darn, I was looking forward to being a VIP." Owen says.

Michael puts a hand on his shoulder. "Eh, maybe next time."

* * *

"I don't like this, Sean." Alex says, as they walk toward a large structure away from the guards. "What is this place?"

Sean opens the doors, revealing a replica of Division. They walk in and look around wide-eyed. "This is a kill house." He replies. Alex looks at him shocked. "They must be planning a mission."

"Sean…" Alex says scared, "This is Division!" She looks around frantically, panicking for a moment. She felt her body become shell shocked. "I need to get out of here!" She screams, wanting to run away. Division still scared her, she wanted so desperately to escape and forget about how evil this place was to her.

"Alex? Hey! Are you okay?" Sean shakes her, trying to get her to snap out of her paralyzed state. Suddenly an alarm goes off, "They're running a drill!" He screams, grabbing Alex's hand. "Come on, we have to hide!"

They run toward a crevasse in a wall and hide. Sean pulls Alex close to him, protecting her. She was shaking. "Division…" Alex whispers. "This is Division! They're going to kill us!"

"No, it's just a drill." He whispers softly in her ear. "It's alright, calm your heart rate."

Soldiers entered the facility, aiming their guns at dummies. Bullets shot off everywhere. Sean and Alex ducked their head.

"Alright, bring it in. Let's reset, go back and check our times." Sean hears the commander say. He couldn't believe it, he recognized the voice. It was his former SEAL unit commander. "No, this can't be." He looks at Alex, who was still shaking. "Hey, it's over. Come on." Hey grabs her hand. They run out the door and head toward the woods.

"What was that?" Alex exclaims once they reach a safe distance. "Those men! They want to kill us!"

She was freaking out. Sean tried to calm her. "Hey." He says, grabbing her shoulders. "Look at me! I know those men, they're-"

"SEALS?" Alex finishes, realizing what this meant. "Danforth is getting ready to wipe us out!"

"Hey, no you don't know that for sure. They could just be practicing."

"You saw them!" Alex screams. "Oh my god, we have to stop Danforth!" She points to the kill house. "This is not right!" She grabs Sean's hand, "Come on, we got to stop him!"

"Wait a minute, Alex. Let's head back and tell the others first before we jump to conclusions and do something drastic."

* * *

Nikita paces back and forth, impatiently waiting for Sean and Alex to return. Birkhoff sat at his desk while Owen and Michael relaxed on a couch with Ryan standing next to them. All of them still in Birkhoff's office, wondering where Sean and Alex are.

"Hurry up dude, play a word." Michael says to Owen in their game of Words with Friends.

"Don't rush me, I'm trying to think." Owen replies, staring intently at his phone.

Michael smirks. "You don't know any good words."

Owen glares at him. He was about to speak when Sean and Alex walk in.

"Thank god!" Nikita exclaims. "Where have you been? You said you were heading back when I called you!"

"We were following Danforth." Alex tells her.

"What!" Ryan yells. "Are you insane? What would happen if he saw you?"

"We followed him to a secret training facility in the middle of the woods." Sean explains. "We found soldiers there preparing for a mission."

"What was the mission?" Owen asks as he and Michael put away their phones.

"They're planning an attack." Alex says. "An attack on Division." They look at her shocked. Michael and Owen stand up.

"Wait, what do you mean an attack?" Michael asks worriedly.

"They built a kill house that looks exactly like Division." Alex tells them.

"Alright, hold on." Nikita says glancing at everyone. "We know the President has a contingency plan but that doesn't me she'll execute it."

"That's what I told Alex." Sean agrees.

"Come on, Sean! You saw them!" Alex exclaims. "They were packing up and getting ready to move... they must have another staging area closer to Division."

"This doesn't sound good." Owen frowns.

Ryan takes out his phone and walks away to call Danforth.

"We need to kill Danforth!" Alex says.

"Whoa, we're getting ahead of ourselves here." Nikita replies. "Zoe is still out there, she's going to meet with the Russian operative and sell her the list, we need to focus on that."

Alex shakes her head. "Danforth is the bigger threat! The SEALS are preparing for an attack as we speak! We need to run!"

"Why would the President order this, she was the one who asked us to kill Batouala?" Michael asks.

Ryan walks up to them. "I don't she was. The President wasn't the one who handed me these files, Danforth did. And given the conversation we just had, I doubt the President has any idea. This is all Danforth"

Alex nods. "He's the one who ordered the SEALS to attack us, not the President. We need to take him out before he takes us out."

"Relax, there's still time to fix this." Nikita says.

"It's a little too late for that." Owen replies.

"It's not, we still have time to do what Division does best….control the narrative." Michael tells them. "If we can stop Zoe, we can stay invisible and build a cover story to tie up all the loose ends."

"This is what we need." Nikita agrees. "We need to prove to the President that Division isn't doing anything bad."

Ryan sighs. "I think this is the only chance of surviving this."

"You thought we were working for the President!" Alex snaps. They all look at her shocked. "Maybe it's time you let someone else do the thinking!"

"Hey, hey." Nikita says, walking up to her. "He made a mistake."

Alex glares at her. "Not his first! That was lying to every single person in Division about the danger that they were in."

"Alex-" Sean tries to say.

"Including us!" Alex shouts, ignoring him. "We didn't deserve that. And neither do they."

"Come on Alex, I know Ryan was wrong but let's focus on the bigger picture." Sean tries to calm her. "Michael is right, there's still a way to fix this without killing anyone. Zoe is going to sell that file tonight once that happens…"

"We can't control the fall out." Michael finishes. "Zoe will disappear and then the President will give the order…"

"There will be no turning back." Nikita says, pacing around the room.

"There already is no turning back..." Alex argues.

Nikita stops and stares at Alex. "That is why, once we get Zoe, we will deal with Commander Danforth."

"I don't know…" Alex says, staring back at her.

Nikita looks directly into her eyes, "I promise you, Alex. We will deal with him later." Alex nods in agreement.

* * *

Michael, Nikita, Sean, Alex and Owen walk into the club.

"We'll wait downstairs, if there's any trouble call us and we'll come running." Michael tells Nikita and Alex as he motions to Sean and Owen.

The girls nod and make their way towards the stairs. Just as they reached the staircase, a Bouncer stood in front of them.

"Name?" He asks.

"Excuse me?" Alex asks, putting on her best spoiled princess act. "You don't know who I am? I called ahead of time and told you to prepare for my party?!"

"Uh," The Bouncer looks down at his list then back up at Alex, smiling sheepishly. "I'm so sorry Miss. Udinov, the hostess is clearing your room for the party right now."

Alex rolls her eyes feigning annoyance. "We don't have all day."

"Right, again sorry for the wait Miss. Udinov." The Bouncer replies nervously letting them upstairs.

* * *

"Hey, where is everyone going? " Zoe asks the Hostess, noticing people were leaving the room. "Is there a gas leak or something?"

"Nothing to worry about," She smiles. "They're just clearing people out for your party."

Zoe and the Russian buyer who's sitting next to her look at each other confused. The two get up and the Russian buyer picks up her phone and orders for back up in Russian.

"So, you don't know what party they're talking about either?" Zoe asks.

Alex walks over to them. "Alexandra Udinov…."

"Party of two." Nikita finishes punching Zoe in the face causing her to stumble backwards. Alex hits the Russian buyer knocking her to the floor. Zoe pulls out a gun and starts shooting it off, causing Nikita and Alex to duck for cover. Nikita hides behind a curtain while Alex jumps over the bar, hiding behind the counter.

* * *

Michael, Owen and Sean are standing by a bar downstairs when they see people running from the club.

"I think it's time to crash the party." Michael says, a worried look on his face. He looks toward the staircase, hoping the girls were okay.

"Wait, look." Owen says motioning over to some security guards running towards the stairs. "We have to stop them from interrupting the girls."

Sean nods. "We don't need any more innocents involved in this."

The boys run over blocking the guards from the staircase.

"Yeah, sorry but you can't go up there." Owen says. Michael and Sean give him a confused look.

A guard frowns. "Move."

"Nah, I'm good." Owen replies then punches him in the face. The guard stumbles backward a bit giving Owen enough time to hit him in the stomach. Another guard tries to attack Sean but he dodges it and hits the guard in the stomach. As the guard doubles over, Sean hits him in the back of the head and the guard falls to the floor unconscious. Two guards go after Michael but he quickly dodges one and throws the other guy into a table. As he tries to get the other guy off of him he notices two guards running up the stairs.

* * *

Zoe starts to walk over to the curtains where she saw Nikita run, when two guards enter the room. She points to the curtain telling them that someone was there. One guard walks over to where she is, while the other walks to the counter.

Nikita sneaks away as the guard walks over to the curtain and pulls it back. She creeps up behind him, hitting him in the back, causing him to fall down. Nikita then kicks him again and kicks his gun away from him, grabbing it in the process. Zoe sees her and tries to shoot but Nikita quickly runs out of the way, shooting Zoe with her gun. Zoe falls to the floor, dead.

Meanwhile Alex, is looking over the counter trying to find something to use to protect herself from the guard roaming the other side of the bar. She finds a knife and grabs it. When the guard comes close to her she quickly attacks him then runs over to the still unconscious Russian buyer and grabs the flash drive that had fallen next to her.

"I got the flash drive!" Alex announces. "Come on, lets go get Danforth." She runs toward the door.

"Alex, wait!" Nikita shouts. "What are you doing? It's over, we won. Give me the flash drive." Nikita says.

Alex turns around and stares directly at her. "What? You promised me we would go after Danforth next."

"Yeah, I said we would deal with him…" She looks at Alex confused. "But come on Alex, you can't still want to kill him…" She notices Alex's blank stare. "Alex, this is crazy. We can't kill him. Give me the flash drive. Let's go home."

"No, this is what he wants…" Alex says, enraged.

Nikita looks at her confused. She notices a change in Alex's demeanor, the girl held on to the flash drive so tightly in her hands. "Alex," Nikita says taking a step toward her. "Give me the flash drive. It's over, lets get out of here. Michael, Sean and Owen are waiting for us downstairs."

Alex looks at the flash drive for a moment, hesitating. "No, once we give it to him, he's just going to wipe us out…" She glances up at Nikita. Her eyes flickering with such intensity. "Can't you see? There is no winning with the government."

Nikita stands her ground. "Come on, Alex. It's over." She tries to rationalize. "We stopped the threat, the President will call off the raid."

Alex rolls her eyes. "No! It's not over." Nikita looks at her confused again. "You really trust the government?" She laughs, "After all this? They have a gun to our heads, Nikita! You keep saying you have a choice, that Division is different now, but it's not." She takes a commanding step toward her, "We don't need to win…"Alex trails off, realizing the inevitable. As much as Nikita tries, Division will never be saved. She had to end it now, once and for all. Nikita stares at her, trying to figure out what was going through Alex's head. "We need to survive." Alex says, holding out the flash drive. "You see this? This is how we survive. We can use this as leverage."

"You want to blackmail the President?" Nikita asks, shocked. What was Alex thinking.

"No." Alex replies, "I'm going to kill Danforth, and make sure he won't stand in our way anymore…" Nikita notices how Alex kept trailing off, her mind obviously somewhere else.

"Alex-" Nikita tries to snap her out of her trance.

"I'm not going to let him stand in our way!" Alex screams.

Nikita stares at her, shocked. Who was this person standing in front of her? It sure as hell wasn't the same Alex she thought she knew and loved. "I can't let you do that, Alex." Nikita says, shaking her head. "You'll be starting a war."

"Open your eyes, Nikita. The government has already declared war. It's time we fought back." Alex yells.

"Nikita, Alex. Report, is the target down?" Nikita hears Ryan say through her coms.

Nikita ignores him, focusing her attention on Alex instead. "It's not the same thing, Alex." She speaks, calmly. "The President doesn't really know what went on in Paris." She looks at the girl, pleading. "If we bring her the flash drive, she will call off the raid."

Alex laughs, ignoring what Nikita had to say. "You're so blind." Alex slightly turns her body toward the door. "The President doesn't care about us. Can't you see? Nothing has changed! Division will never change…" She trails off again. Nikita glances at the flash drive in her hand. Alex wasn't giving up. "It's changing us." Alex finally says. "It's changing you." She glances at Nikita one last time.

"What?" Nikita says, baffled. If anyone was changing, it was Alex. She suddenly put all the pieces together. It was obvious now. Alex's behavior had been drastically different ever since they got her back, Amanda must have done something to her, even if Alex doesn't remember. Nikita had to find a way to convince her to snap out of it. She didn't want to hurt her, but she would stop her with force if necessary.

Alex had fully turned toward the door. "Division is evil…" Nikita hears her say. "It always will be… there's no changing that. I know what to do now. I'm going to stop it." Alex continues to say in a trance-like way. Nikita watches as Alex attempts to leave. Panicking, she runs toward the door, blocking Alex's path. "Get out of my way, Nikita! You can't stop me." Alex screams, determination in her voice. She had to stop Division and killing Danforth was the first step in doing so. It starts with him, and ends with Nikita.

"You can't do this! You can't just walk out this door and leave me hanging here… Alex! You need to snap out of this, you're not thinking rationally."

"No, I am! For once in my life, it's finally clear! Division needs to be shut down!" Alex shouts, erratically. She tries to push passed Nikita."Move!" She screams, on the verge of insanity. Nikita continues to block her path. She watches as Alex gets angrier. "I have to do this! Move!"

"Alex, what is wrong with you? You have to tell me what happen in Romania…"

"Romania? What are you talking about?" Alex asks, confused.

"You still don't remember?"

Alex shakes her head. "Stop trying to confuse me." She looks down, shaking her head again.

Nikita looked at her worried. "I'm not trying to confuse you, Alex. I'm trying to help you remember so you can stop fighting me." Alex stayed silent, still fighting off her headache. Nikita grabs her shoulders, forcing her to look her in the eyes. "Tell me, Alex! What did Amanda do to you!"

"Amanda has nothing to do with this!" Alex screams, annoyed at Nikita's efforts to confuse her.

"Alex, come in. Why aren't you responding to your com?" She hears Ryan in her ear. Momentarily distracted, Nikita uses this opportunity to quickly knock the flash drive out of her hands.

Alex looks at her shocked. Nikita glances in the direction the flash drive had landed in and back at Alex. She had to get to it before her. Nikita quickly runs toward it. "No!" Alex screams as she tackles Nikita into the bar, sending them both flying over it. Glasses shattering as they landed on the ground.

From downstairs, Michael, Sean and Owen heard a loud crash, followed by a terrifying screaming sound.

"What was that?" Owen turns to face the other two.

Sean had just finished knocking out the last security guard. "Alex?" He says alarmed. He shares a look with Michael.

"Michael." He hears Ryan call his name through the coms.

"What is it?" Michael replies, kicking a guard in the face who was still conscious and trying to get up.

Ryan sigh in relief at the sound of his voice. "Good, you can still hear me."

"What's wrong?" Sean asks.

"I can't contact the girls, they're not responding to their coms." Ryan says. "I thought it was a connection error but Birkhoff says they're still online."

Michael glances at Owen and Sean. "I don't like the sound of this." They hear another crashing sound upstairs.

"We better go crash the party." Owen says. Michael and Sean agree.

They race up the stairs, finding Alex and Nikita battling each other on the ground. Broken glass from the bar was scattered everywhere.

"What is going on in here?" Michael shouts.

Nikita looks up at him distracted. Alex quickly grabs another knife off of the bar and pulls Nikita into a chokehold, with the blade against her throat.

"Alex!" Sean screams. He tries to run up to her but Michael holds him back.

"Whoa, there. Alex, what are you doing? Put that knife down."

"Michael-" Nikita tries to say.

"Shut up!" Alex screams, she presses the knife harder against Nikita's throat, threatening to draw blood.

Michael's eyes grow wide. He tries to approach the two girls.

Alex points the knife at him. "Stand back!" She shouts, trying to back up into a corner with Nikita.

"What is going on in here?" Owen asks, shocked at the scene.

Michael looks at him and back at the girls. He glances between the two, noticing Alex's erratic behavior. He catches Nikita's gaze and puts the pieces together. "Stand back guys, don't make any sudden movements, she's clearly not herself right now. We don't want to scare her."

"Alex, just put the knife down and let's talk this out. What are you doing?" Sean asks calmly.

"I can't let her do this…" Alex replies.

"Do what?" Owen asks.

Alex's eyes flicker toward the flash drive on the ground. Sean picks it up. "Is this what you want?" He asks her.

"Yes, Sean you understand don't you?" He looks at her confused. "Danforth wants to wipe us out Sean, you saw the SEALs. Your former unit..."

"Yeah, I saw them, but-"

"They have a gun to our heads! We can't let them control us, we can use that flash drive as leverage and kill him!" She replies crazed.

"Kill him? Who said anything about killing Danforth?" Owen questions.

"He's the only one the President briefed about Division. If we take him out, that'll buy us some time."

"Time to do what?" Michael asks.

"It'll give us some time to shore up our defenses and tell people to run. Then finally, Division can be shut down. Permanently."

"Alex." Nikita tries to say.

"Shut up!" Alex snaps at her.

"Hey! Calm down." Sean tries to approach her again. Michael gives him a warning glare, but Sean ignores him. "I want Division shut down as much as anyone but killing people is not the way to do it… put the knife down, Alex."

Alex stares at him, scared. She starts to back away, pulling Nikita with her. "Don't-"

"What happen to you, Alex? The Alex I know would never be holding a knife to her best friend's throat like this."

"She's…" Alex pauses, shaking her head. Another headache starting to form. "Nikita's changed. Division is changing us. It's just not right anymore. I can't just stand by and watch us get pushed around." She looks at Sean. "Division is evil and it needs to be destroyed."

"You're right." Sean says.

"What?" Owen says, glancing at Sean.

"Division does need to be shut down." He glances at everyone in the room. "And it will be, I promise you that Alex… but you need to put that knife down first. You're not thinking clearly. Nikita is not the enemy, we need to focus on finding the Dirty Thirty. That is how we shut down Division."

"Sean's right." Michael says. "Theres still rouge agents out there."

"Shut up!" Alex snaps. She tries to back away more, holding the knife tighter around Nikita's neck. She backs up into the bar. With no more room to move, Alex starts to panic. Sean, Michael and Owen had her surrounded. There was no way she was going to escape them and get the flash drive.

"Come on Alex, it's over. Let's go home." Sean says.

"What home?" Alex glares at him, a strain in her voice. "Division is not a home."

Sean looks at her with sadness. After all the stories he had heard from Nikita in the past few days, he finally understood all that Alex had gone through before he had met her. She had been running away for so long, she never knew what a home was.

"Home is with us, Alex. Come with us, we won't hurt you." Michael says. "Just put the knife down and let Nikita go."

"I can't. It's too late." Alex says, on the verge of tears. She was breaking down.

"No, it's never too late. You can do this." Sean tries to approach her again. He holds out his hand. "Give me the knife." Alex shakes her head. "Come on, it's me. What are you doing? I'm not going to hurt you."

"Get out of my head!" She screams, "I know what I'm doing!"

"Alex, please!" Sean begs, "Look at me! You can't kill her."

"No." Alex looks away. "I have to stop her."

Sean looks at her. He sighs, tired of trying to reason with her. He knew it wasn't working. "Alex, please." Sean begs one last time.

"Alex, what happen to you?" Michael asks. "This isn't you."

"What happen to me?" Alex laughs. "What happen to all of you?"

"I'm not the one holding a member of our team hostage." Michael counters. He glances at Nikita, worried.

"Nothing happened to me! I know what I'm doing!"

"You keep saying we've changed, but you have too." Owen says to Alex. She glares at him. "Amanda changed you. Try to think, what did she do to you?"

"Stop! Just stop lying. Amanda didn't do anything to me, I don't know what you're talking about!" Alex screams. "You think I can't decide on my own, that Amanda had to have done something to me? Stop trying to make up excuses."

"She doesn't remember." Sean says to Michael and Owen.

"Alex, put the knife down." Michael says calmly.

"Stay back!" Alex screams. "You can't stop me! I need to do this!"

"Do what Alex?" Sean asks. "What are you trying to prove by holding Nikita hostage? Let her go. We're not going to hurt you." Alex looks at everyone conflicted, but she couldn't stop herself. Her grip on the knife tighten subconsciously, like she couldn't control herself. Sean tries to catch her attention again. He knew it was a crazy idea but he had to try. "Put the knife down, Alex…" He says staring deep into her eyes. "We can walk away."

She looks up at him, for a moment he see a glimpse of hope. But the moment was soon shattered. "I can't do that." Alex says, shaking her head. "It's too late… I can't go back."

"Yes you can, you can do this. We don't need to go back. Let's just get out of here. You and me. We can go, run away with me." He says approaching her slowly. "All you have to do is give me the knife."

Michael and Owen stare at him shocked. Was Sean really thinking about running away with a crazy person? They can't let Alex go, she needed help.

"No, I can't." Alex says, her body shaking. "We were supposed to shut this place down." She says speaking to Nikita, tears starting to form. "You and me, that's what you told me. Why did you keep it running?"

"Alex… I'm sorry." Nikita tries to say. Alex presses the knife even harder, threatening to draw blood at any moment. Michael's eyes grow wide. He needed to do something.

"Alex, you need to think about what you're doing." He says. "Killing Nikita won't solve anything."

"If Nikita dies, Division dies too! It ends here!"

"No it won't, it won't end here. You're going to have to kill me too, and Ryan, Sean, Birkhoff, Owen… everyone in Division." Michael says.

"What?" Alex asks confused. "No…" She says shaking her head. "This doesn't make any sense! It ends with her!"

"Is this what Amanda told you?" Sean says trying to approach her again.

"Stay back!" She points the knife at him.

"We need to do something." Michael says to Sean.

"Do what? We can't shoot her."

"Stay back!" Alex warns again, she was getting too aggravated.

Sean tries to approach her again, she brings the knife back up to Nikita's neck. "I'll do it!"

"Whoa, wait a second." Owen exclaims. "I don't know what messed up mind crap Amanda did to you, but you got to listen to me." Alex stares at him. "We can help you."

"You can't help me!"

"Amanda has you brainwashed, Alex. This isn't you." Sean says. "Let us help you."

"You're lying!" Alex screams, pointing the knife at him again. "I know what I'm doing! I don't need any help!"

"No, I'm not Alex. Trust me."

"I can't trust anyone!" She cries. "Not even my own memories."

"You can trust me. I love you, Alex." Sean begs.

She looks at him, her eyes pleading for help. "This isn't real. I need to end this right now. It's the only way." Alex brings the knife back to Nikita's neck.

Sean pulls out his gun. Alex's blue eyes find his. "Alex, don't make me do this." He pleads. "I don't want to hurt you."

She stares him, with all hope lost she lifts the knife in the air, ready to slice Nikita.

Sean aims his gun, a single bullet shot off.

**WHAAAAATTTT! You did not see that coming did you! Alex has gone crazy, Sean may or may have not shot Alex and Mr. Mysterious Man has a name! JR! So much is going on and so much more is on it's way! Be prepared!**

**Okay peoples please write a review and tell us what you think! **

**Oh and your question is:**

**Which cast member was a part of a punk rock band?**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13: Ivory Tower Part 1

**Sup peoples! I have the next chapter for you! Hope you guys like it! **

**Shoutouts!: Okay last question was which cast member was in a punk rock band and the answer was...Shane West! aka: Michael! Congrats to Nicolebetkhodu for answering it right! Gold star for you and everyone else who guessed and reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita because if I did, Sean would be alive right now. Enough said.**

**Chapter 13: Ivory Tower Part 1**

The bullet pinged off a metal pole to the left of Alex. She turned to look at the dent it made and laughed. "You missed!"

"No, I didn't." Sean replies.

"What?" Alex looked at him, confused. Nikita used this opportunity to elbow her in the stomach and escape Alex's choke hold. Once free, Sean shot off another bullet. This time aiming at wires attached to a light fixture above Alex's head. Her eyes grew wide as she looked up in horror. The lamp came crashing down on top her.

Sean lowered his gun as Alex collapsed to the ground, out cold. "I'm so sorry." He mouthed, wishing it didn't have to come to this.

It all happened so fast, Nikita looked at Alex's unconscious body in shock as Michael ran to her side. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah, but Alex?" She looked at her old friend, lying on the ground. The lamp was resting on top of her back, she looked so innocent, so peaceful sprawled out on the floor. "Will she be alright?"

Michael stared into Nikita's eyes, trying to reassure her. He glanced at Alex. He couldn't believe Alex had snapped and turned on them. Even wanting to kill Nikita, it was crazy. Amanda needed to be stopped at all costs.

Sean kneeled down next to Alex. He lifted the lamp off of her and sighed. "I'm so sorry, Alex." He brushed a stray hair away from her face, "I never wanted to hurt you."

Owen kneeled down next to Sean. "You did what you had to do." Sean looks at him, grateful for his support. "She'll be alright, don't worry. We'll get her some help."

Sean lifted Alex's body up in his arms and cradled her gently. He slowly stands up and faces Nikita, Michael and Owen. "We need to get her back to Division, figure out what's wrong with her."

Nikita nods. "Owen, is it clear downstairs? We don't want to make a scene."

"Yeah, it's clear. Everyone scattered when they heard the gunshots… we better get out of here before the cops show up and question what we're doing with an unconscious Alexandra Udinov." He replies.

"Not to mention at a scene of a homicide." Sean adds.

"Yeah, we don't want to risk being exposed, you know the President wouldn't like that." Michael says.

"Screw the President." Nikita yells. "Alex was right, Division will always be bad." She looks at everyone in the room and glances at Alex in Sean's arms. "I promised her we were going to shut Division down. I'm going to keep my promise."

* * *

Sean walked into Division carrying Alex in his arms. She was still unconscious. Nikita, Michael and Owen followed him toward Ops where Ryan, Sonya and Birkhoff was waiting for them.

"Oh my god, Alex!" Birkhoff screamed when he saw the girl. "I can't believe Amanda would try to brainwash her."

"Believe it." Owen replies. "She's done worst things."

"But why Alex?" Sonya asks, staring at the young girl. "She's so innocent."

"She was the easiest target" Nikita replies. "Someone we would've never expected to betray us… but more importantly, someone Amanda could use to hurt me."

Ryan sighs, "What are we going to do now? We can't let Amanda get away with this."

"Our first priority should be helping Alex." Nikita says. "Amanda can wait."

"Hey, Nikki…" Birkhoff says, walking up to her. He notices the strain in her voice. "How are you doing?"

"How am I doing?" Nikita shouts. "My best friend just tried to kill me!"

"Nikita." Owen says. "You know she wasn't herself, you have to remember that."

Nikita looks down. "I'm not so sure…"

Michael glances at her. "What do you mean?"

"There's this thing Amanda used to say to us. There's two versions of every one of us. Two Nikitas… Two Alexs. One the world sees, and one that we need to keep locked away." She stops to look at everyone in the room. "What if, this Alex was just someone she had locked away… deep down, it's still a part of her. How she really feels about this place. I've seen it before, she won't stop till she gets her revenge."

"Nikki, that's crazy." Birkhoff says, shaking his head.

"No, it's not. Alex knew exactly what she was doing. She had a goal, she knows how bad Division is and she was right for wanting to destroy it. Trust me, I understand her actions. I've been there before."

"Come on Nikki, you really can't believe this is your fault." Birkhoff says. "Amanda manipulated her, she had her brainwashed!"

"Division has changed. Alex was confused." Michael adds. "This is a new Division."

"Division is illegal. It always has been." Nikita says, looking at him. "Percy and Amanda would never admit that, because we were the elite. We were the best of the best. Anything less wouldn't do." She turns to face the rest of the group. "But truth is, we were flawed. We made mistakes. We were human."

They all stare at her in silence. Sean shifts Alex's body weight in his arms.

She turns to face Alex with a sad look on her face. "If an agent was exposed on a mission, they were canceled. If they got injured too badly, they were put down. And if they formed relationships, well Amanda would never forgive that."

"But you do." Ryan says. She glances at him. "Look, Division is only as good or as bad as the people running it. And the people running it now are you and me. So the real question is, what do you think of us?"

Nikita sighs as she looks around the room. "It doesn't matter what I think, what matters is what our fellow agents think. And Alex thought we were evil."

"Nikita, what Amanda said about us having two different versions of ourselves… well it's only a part of us. Not all of us." Michael says grabbing Nikita's shoulders. "There's still a part of her that is our Alex, one that loves you and looks up to you. I saw it in her, just a glimpse in her eyes. She's still in there. We just need to find her."

"Michael," Nikita says. "What if there's no way of bringing Alex back? What if she hates me forever?"

"Don't think like that." He replies, looking into her eyes. "Listen, we've been through this before. Alex and I, we never gave up on you. So now we can't give up on her."

He stops to turn to Sean. "Bring Alex to medical, Sean. Let's run some tests and see if we can figure out a way to reverse the damage Amanda has done to her mind." Michael says. "I'm not giving up on her." Sean nods and carries Alex away.

"I'm not giving up on her either." Nikita says, smiling at her fiancé. "You really think she'll come back to us?"

He smiles back. "Without a doubt. Give it some time. Alex is still in there, she always comes around…"

* * *

Nikita and Sean sat by Alex's side, waiting for her to wake up again. They weren't sure how she would react to being back at the place she sought out to destroy. Alex was a loose cannon right now.

Sean held Alex's hand, tightly in his. "What do you think Amanda did to her?" He asks Nikita.

Nikita sighed. "I don't know, but Amanda has always had a way of manipulating her." She looks at Alex, remembering not even a year ago, they were on opposites sides.

Sean looks at her knowingly, "That was different. She was just using Division, she never wanted to hurt you."

"I know, but I can see why I can be seen as the bad guy to her."

"Nikita, you were never the bad guy… sure I thought you were once, you were trying to kill my mother after all, but Alex made me see that you weren't. She knows your intentions are always good."

Nikita sighs. "But, this time it's different. She can't see the light. She wanted to kill me, Sean."

Sean looks at Nikita. "She wasn't herself. Alex is so loyal to you, she would do anything for you, even take a bullet for you. I don't think she would do that for anyone else, but you."

"Sean…" Nikita looks at him, "Alex loves you. She may not be able to say it, but she definitely shows it."

He smiles and squeezes Alex's hand. He's surprised when he feels her squeeze back. "Alex?" Sean questions. "I felt her move."

Alex opens her eyes slowly. "Sean?" She asks confused. "Where am I? My head hurts."

"You're in Division." Nikita answers.

"Nikita!" Alex's eyes flash at the sight of her. She screams, launching at her again. Sean pins her down.

"No Alex!" He struggles to fasten restraints on her. "Calm down! Nikita is not the enemy."

"Let me go!" Alex shouts. Nikita stands back, shocked.

Michael and Owen run in to help him. "Hold her down!" Michael commands Owen.

"She still wants to kill you I see." Owen says to Nikita. "What are we going to do?"

Alex starts to thrash around, pulling on her restraints. "Stop Alex, you'll hurt yourself" Sean tries to warn her.

She glares at him, no sign of the sweet innocent girl he loved. "Let me out of here!" She screams. "You're all evil! Every one of you!"

"Alex…" Sean tries to object.

"Stay away from me!" She cries. "I should've never trusted you!"

"You gave me no choice, Alex. I never wanted to hurt you. You have to believe me."

"Why didn't you just kill me?" Sean stares at her in disbelief. "You should've killed me when you had the chance!"

"That's not an option." Michael says, "You're still part of the family."

"I have no family. Division made sure of that. It needs to be stopped. I have to stop it." Alex says in a trace-like way. "It ends now!" She tries to launch towards Nikita again, the restraints pulling on her skin as she screams in pain. Nikita looks at her, lost. Her Alex was so far gone.

"What did Amanda do to you?" She whispers. Alex continued to fight Sean, determined to get her hands free and attack Nikita. Nikita watches as Sean tries to prevent Alex from hurting herself anymore. "I'm so sorry, Alex."

* * *

Ryan appears at the door with Birkhoff and Sonya. They all stared at Alex, wide-eyed.

"Is there any way to snap her out of this?" Ryan asks.

"We don't know what Amanda did to her, she's not herself right now." Owen says.

"Amanda." Alex laughs. "She didn't do anything to me. You people will come up with any excuse."

"Yes she did, you just don't remember." Sean says.

"I'm pretty sure I would remember if she did something to me." Alex glares at him.

"Alex, why are you doing this? Percy is dead, you know this is a new Division." Michael says.

"A new Division?" Alex laughs. "You really expect the President to forgive all of our sins? Come on home, here's a shiny gold star for all your hard work, a fat check and a clean slate?"

"Not exactly, but-"

Alex scoffs, "Nothing's changed."

"If you really felt this way, why stay then? Why all the cloaks and daggers?" Michael asks her.

"I was buying some time." She replies.

"For what?" Nikita asks. "You're free. Nothing is making you stay."

"What am I going to do?" Alex stares at her. "Run away? Live on a beach while you let Division live? I can't let you do that. Division needs to be stopped!"

"Alex-"

"No! Division needs to be stopped! You were supposed to tear this place down!" Nikita stares at her in disbelief. "You kept it running! How could you? Division needs to be stopped!" Alex repeats herself again.

"Why does she keep saying that?" Sonya asks. "It's like she's in a trance."

"Amanda has her claws so deep in her, Alex doesn't know what to believe in anymore." Birkhoff says with a sad face. "She gave her some kind of drug, there was traces of it in her system, I don't know what kind of substance it was though."

"How do we fix this?" Sean asks.

"I don't know, this isn't like any normal drug. We can't put her through a rehab program and magically hope she recovers. Amanda has done some sort of psychological torture." Michael replies.

"What would Amanda do?" Nikita speaks up. Everyone looks at her.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asks.

"This was Amanda's specialty at Division. How would she fix this problem?"

"Stop talking about me like I need to be fixed!" Alex yells.

"Alex, we're trying to help you." Sean says softly, trying to find any sign of the old Alex in her eyes. She looks away.

Michael sighs. "I know what Amanda would do." He looks at Birkhoff.

"You're not suggesting we sedate her are you Mikey? You know how that turned out last time." Birkhoff replies.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Michael counters. Birkhoff shakes his head. "I thought so." He turns to Nikita. "After we found Alex at Vlad's, I brought her back to Division. To Amanda… she helped her overcome her craving and withdrawal symptoms."

"Yeah, after she took a crow-bar to her subconscious." Birkhoff retorts.

"Hold on, we don't even know what Amanda gave her and now you want to pump her up with more drugs?" Sean argues.

"This could work." Nikita says. "If we can get into her subconscious, we might be able to help her remember who she is."

"We can get Alex back." Michael agrees.

"Okay then, you have my approval." Ryan says. "Sonya, can you prep Alex?"

"On it, sir." She exits the room.

"Alex, we're going to help you okay." Sean says as her gently caresses her face. "It's going to be okay."

For a moment Alex's eyes sparkle, but quickly fades when Sonya returns with a needle.

"What is that? You can't do this!" Alex begins to panic. She looks at Sean. "You have to help me!"

"I am helping you Alex."

"No! You have to let me out of here!" She tries to plead. "We can go, let's run away! Sean, you and me."

He looks into her eyes, wondering if she's serious. "Sean, she's trying to trick you." Michael says. "That's not Alex."

"No, I'm not! Sean! Please, it's me! You can't let them do this to me!" Alex begs.

"I'm sorry Alex." He steps back to give Sonya room.

"Traitor!" Alex screams. "Division will die!"

Sonya preps the needle, ready to sedate Alex. She pauses and looks at Nikita.

"Do it." Nikita says.

"No! Please! You can't-" Alex begs one last time as Sonya pierces the needle into her arm.

Nikita watched as Alex succumbs to the sedative.

* * *

"Explain to me what's going to happen to Alex now?" Owen asks Nikita.

"Ibogaine is a powerful hallucinogen." She begins, "It's usually used to treat opioid addiction."

"It also has an interesting side effect." Michael adds. "Patients can experience a waking dream state."

Birkhoff walks into the room with a bowl of popcorn. Everyone looks at him. "What?" He says innocently.

"Popcorn? Really Nerd?" Nikita laughs.

"Hey, this is like Inception part two! I wanted a snack."

Owen tries to grab a handful but Birkhoff slaps his hand away. "Get your own!"

Michael rolls his eyes. "So I was saying… Alex is going to experience a sort of waking dream state."

"Just like the movie Inception." Birkhoff comments. Michael glares at him.

"This is what Amanda used on Alex before?" Owen asks.

"Yeah, she wanted to know what she was hiding." Birkhoff says.

"Did she find what she was looking for?" Sean asks.

"Not at first, but she did find out Alex was afraid of herself." Michael explains. "In her dream state, Alex projected two versions of herself. One being the Alex we know and love and the other, lead a dark path. Alex was scared of herself becoming this dark person."

"So we're hoping, in Alex's dream, we can help her find herself?" Owen questions.

"That's the idea." Birkhoff says. "We're going to paint her a picture, you know, so she can remember who she is."

Owen looks puzzled. "Do you think that would work on me?"

Nikita looks at him. "I don't know, with Alex it's different. She still remembers some things, she's just lost and confused. She doesn't know what to believe in so we need to point her in the right direction."

"I see." Owen replies disappointed.

"Don't worry, Owen. We'll get Amanda. You will figure out your past." She says, giving him a reassuring smile.

They all look back at Alex who was starting to tremble in her sleep.

"What's going on?" Sean asks.

"She's dreaming." Michael replies.

* * *

Alex couldn't remember how she got to her apartment. Something wasn't right about the place. She pulled out a gun that was hidden under the counter. Suddenly, a knock on the door made her jump. She wasn't expecting anyone. She opens the door nervously and finds Sean on the other side.

"Sean? What are you doing here?" She asks confused, putting the gun down.

He puts a finger to his mouth and whispers "shh" as he enters her apartment.

"What's going on? Why are you here? I thought you left." Alex questions.

He closes the door behind him and points to her laptop on the counter. A video message pops up. It was from Nikita.

"You have secrets, Alex." Nikita says. Alex turns to Sean, suspicious. "You have been hiding these secrets from us, I want you to think about what those secrets are. Imagine them in your mind as objects you can see and hear."

"Nikita?" Alex says, she looks toward Sean. "This isn't right." He nods. She stares at him. "What's going on?"

"You're starting to remember." Sean replies.

The room begins to shake. Alex turns toward her windows. "This isn't real." Giant storm clouds appear. She turns back to Sean. "It's Nikita, she's trying to get into my head!" Sean agrees. "I remember being brought back to Division. They're trying to mess with me. I have to stop her!"

"Wake up." Sean says. Lightning sounds and the windows break, throwing Alex back.

* * *

A few minutes pass when Alex's eyes gradually open. She doesn't move.

"Alex?" Sean says. "She's conscious now."

"She's fully under the influence of Ibogaine." Michael says.

"That's good, now instead of a few words here and there, we can hear her say full sentences." Birkhoff adds.

"I can remember, his face." Alex suddenly says. "It's not a secret."

Nikita looks at Michael and back at Alex. "Who's this man, Alex? Is he a friend?"

"No Sean! Help me!," Alex screams.

Nikita looks at Sean scared, "Do you know who she's talking about?" Sean shakes his head. "Alex, I want you to imagine yourself walking down a long corridor. It seems familiar. You've been here before…"

* * *

Alex walks down the hallways of Division, looking around scared.

"You're looking for something." She hears Nikita say. "Something you've hidden. It's a secret about your past. You've hidden it very well."

"What?" Alex questions as she walks down some stairs toward ops. "What am I doing back here? I need to get out of here."

"No, Alex. Your secret is in danger. You need to find it, and move it."

"A secret about my past?" She questions. Suddenly a young girl starts running toward her. Alex looks at her confused. "You're… you're…"

"I don't like this place. I want to go home." She says.

"What are you doing here? This is not a safe place!" Alex looks around nervously.

"People are looking for me. I have to go." The girl replies.

* * *

"Who is she talking to?" Sean asks.

"There's a whole world going on in her head right now." Nikita replies.

"Everything she says in there, she'll say out here." Michael says.

"Her brain activity looks fine." Birkhoff says looking up from his computer.

"We have to run! This way, hurry." Alex says.

Nikita looks back at her, "Alex, there's no need to run. This is a safe place. Nobody is going to hurt you."

"We have to find a place to hide." Alex says. "Follow me, I know a way out."

"Why is she running?" Owen asks.

"Her heart rate is going up! We have to stop her." Birkhoff warns.

"This isn't good, she doesn't want us to find her." Michael says.

"Alex!" Nikita yells.

"Hurry, this way!" Alex screams again, "I can't let them find you!"

"This isn't working." Sean says, "She's building up walls."

"Alex," Nikita says. "Why are you running? You need to slow down."

* * *

"We need to slow down!" The young girl says, stopping.

Alex turns to face her, "What? No, this isn't right." She steps up to the the girl. "You don't understand. This place is evil, we don't belong here." She tries to pull the her along. "Come on, let's go! We have to get out of here."

"I can't go with you. I need to find my family." The girl replies. "They're looking for me." Alex looks at her confused.

"Alex." She hears Nikita's voice. "Who are you trying to hide?"

"Who are you?" Alex asks the young girl.

"I am Alexandra Udinov. I don't like this place, I need to go home."

Alex shakes her head. "You can't be. That's me."

Suddenly, the young girl starts to run away. "Hey!" Alex screams, "Where are you going? That's the wrong way!"

"Alex you need to follow her." Nikita says. "Don't let her run away, she knows your secret. You need to find her."

* * *

"She's running again." Birkhoff says. Sean looks at Alex, worried. "Her heart rate is going up!"

"Where is she going?" Sean asks, confused. He looks up at everyone in the room. "And who is she talking to?"

"I think she's talking to herself." Owen answers. He looks at Michael. "You said last time Amanda did this, Alex projected two versions of herself..." Michael nods. "I think the other girl is our version of Alex."

Sean looks at him, agreeing. "She's trapped and looking for a way out…" He looks at Alex and then towards Nikita. "She's still in there." He tells her. "We can't let her get away."

"Where are you?" Alex says. "This isn't a safe place, we need to get out of here."

"She isn't going to find anything in Division." Owen says. "Alex doesn't want to be here."

"We need her to look somewhere else." Michael agrees.

"Where else would she go?" Birkhoff asks.

"I have to go…" Alex mumbles. They all turn to stare at her. "I need to get out of here. It's not a safe place."

"Alex, I want you to try to find a safe place." Nikita says to her, "Somewhere you feel secure."

* * *

Alex jumps into the elevators at Division and presses a button for the top floor.

"Where are you going Alex?" She hears Nikita's voice.

"Up." She replies. "I need to go home."

The elevator doors open, revealing a bedroom similar to Alex's childhood room.

A young girl appears. "You've found me."

"What are you doing here?" Alex asks.

"You put me here." She replies.

"What? I- I don't understand." Alex looks around the room. "What is this place?"

"You locked me away in this tower. I don't like it here. I want to go home."

"I did?" Alex shakes her head as she looks around at all the little memorabilia scattered around the room. "Why would I do that?" The girl stares at her, not saying a word.

Alex walks up to a small nightstand and picks up a tiny letter "A" dangling from a gold chain. She smiles and turns toward the young girl.

"I used to have a necklace just like this… I don't remember what happen to it though"

The girl walks up to her and points toward Alex's neckline "You mean this one?"

Surprised, Alex looks down at the golden "A" around her neck. "How did-"

"It's so pretty, who gave it to you?" The girl asks.

Alex was still bewildered by the sudden appearance of her necklace.

"Was it someone you love?" Alex hears the girl say to her.

She turns to face the girl again, remembering what she had told her before. "Where are the people who you love?" Alex asks her. "Where is your family? You said they were looking for you?"

"I can't find them…" The girl replies, looking down. "I've been trapped in this tower for so long… it's hard to imagine their faces."

Alex looks at her with sadness. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you here…" She shakes her head, trying to remember what happen. "I don't know how this happen, why I would do this to you. You don't deserve this, you should be outside!" The girl just stares at her from across the room. "I'm sorry!" Alex cries. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I swear! I didn't…you have to believe me!" She looks at the girl, pleading for her to speak. "Please!" Alex screams at her. "You have to say something!"

"I don't like it here. I want to go home." The girl finally says.

"Come with me then, I can help you!" Alex exclaims. "I don't like it here either." She runs up to the girl, grabbing her hand. "Let's get out of here, we can go find your family."

The girl shakes Alex's grip off of her. "You don't know what to look for."

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Something we've lost."

"What is that supposed to mean!" Alex exclaims, frustrated. "People keep telling me I've lost something, but how could I loose something I don't remember having in the first place?"

"Follow me." The girl says. "I think I know where to go now." Alex looks at her like she's crazy. "Come on, follow me."

"Hey wait! Where are you going?"

"I need to show you something." The girl steps into the elevator, waiting for Alex to follow. "Are you coming?"

**That's right people it's INCEPTION PART 2! (haha oh Nerd gotta love him) This part was actually in the inspiration for this story...well that and Pyro (aka: Aaron aka: Birkhoff) from Xmen. Unfortunetly that's all I can say about that without giving anything away. Anyway please give review and give us your thoughts on the chapter! Next chapter will probably be up Monday since it's all written out already. ****  
**

**Your question is...**

**Which cast member quest starred in Once Upon a Time?**

**There ya have it! Please review and thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14: Ivory Tower Part 2

**Hi guys! Sorry it took me awhile to update this one. I've been so before I let you read the next chapter I just wanna say thank you for everyone who reviews, favorites, and follows this story. You guys are so awesome and I am so glad you guys like the story! Okay so I noticed we are 6 reviews away from getting 100 views! So, I decided that whoever is the 100th reviewer will get a giant gold star and a special sneak peak to the next chapter depending on what chapter were on when you review and as long as it isn't a guest review. (Sorry! But I need to be able to pm you to give you the sneak peak). Oh and if a guest review is the 100th reviewer than I'll give it to the next reviewer who has an account. Alright you have you're mission! Let's see how well accomplish it ;) Okay so with that said here is Ivory Tower Part 2! Btw of you love Salex you are gonna love this chapter! It's so fluffy! (haha gotta love Despicable Me). Alright here's part 2! Hope you guys like it enjoy!**

**Shoutouts!: Okay so the last question was who guest starred in Once Upon a Time. The answer was...Noah Bean! (aka: Ryan). So congrats to Wootar16, SkiTTdaTTle, and Sophia Spark for guessing right! You guys get gold stars! And gold stars for everyone who guessed and reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita. **

**Chapter 14: Ivory Tower Part 2**

Ryan walks into medical to check on Alex. "How's it going?"

"She's not running anymore, that's good." Birkhoff replies. He checks on Alex's vitals. "Her brain activity still seems normal. Heart rate stable too."

"Running?" Ryan questions. He glances at Alex.

"Not literally of course." Michael replies.

Ryan nods. "So is there hope for her yet?"

"We're not giving up on her if that's what you're referring to." Sean answers, walking up to him. Ryan stands back. "But to answer your question, yes there's still hope for her."

"Good." Ryan replies. "I didn't mean to intrude. I just wanted to see how she was doing."

"She's doing just fine." Nikita says to him. She glances at Alex and smiles. "She's finally letting us steer."

"Where are you taking me?" Alex suddenly speaks up. They all glance at her. "Wait for me!" She exclaims.

"Alex," Nikita says softly. "I want you to imagine yourself opening a new door. Behind this door is the secret to your past."

"My past?" Alex says.

"Yes. You've hidden a key somewhere there. I need you to find it."

"A key?"

"This key will lead you home. You need to find it."

"What do you think she'll find behind that door?" Owen asks.

"Hopefully, a link to her memories. She needs to remember who she is." Michael replies.

"Where are you Alex?" Nikita asks.

* * *

The elevator doors open to reveal an ally behind of a nightclub. The same ally Nikita had shot Alex in. Alex turns around expecting to see the young girl next to her. She was gone. "What am I doing here?" Alex ask, stepping out of the elevator. The doors shut behind her. Suddenly, she sees the young girl walk down the ally, heading toward a backdoor of a night club. The girl drops a golden key on the ground. Alex bends down to pick it up. "Hey! Come back here! You dropped this!" She shouts. The young girl pauses by the back door of the night club and waits for a man to exit. When he appears, she pulls out a gun and points it at him. Alex ducks behind a dumpster, spying on them. Her eyes widen at the sight of herself pointing a gun at an innocent civilian. "What is going on?"

"Get in." The girl says as a man opens a car door for them.

"Sean?" Alex questions. "What is he doing here?"

"Alex, return to Division with the son." She hears Sean tell her former self.

"What? I work for Division? This isn't right." Alex says. She sees the girl enter the car and drive off. "Where are you going?" Alex shouts at the car. "You can't go back to Division, you don't belong there."

Suddenly Nikita steps out in front of the car's path, shooting the bumper. The car crashes and the girl jumps out.

"Nikita!" She yells. "Drop your gun!"

Alex watches from a distance as Nikita drops her gun.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me?" She hears Nikita reply.

"I've done it before" The girl says.

"To save my life right?" Nikita says, "What's it going to be for this time? Or do you even know?" The girl stares at her. "Or does Amanda have you so turned around, you don't even know what to believe in anymore."

"I know what I believe! I know what I want, and I'm using Division to get it!"

Alex couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I remember this now…"

"They are using you." Nikita says. "It's what they do, you can't trust them."

"I don't trust anybody!" The girl screams at her.

"That's right." Alex remembers. "Amanda is running Division." Alex watches as the two start fighting. "Nikita isn't the enemy."

The young girl angrily charges at her mentor, throwing countless failed punch attempts.

"What are you doing?" Alex screams at her. "Stop! She's trying to help you."

"Stop!" Nikita yells. The girl continues to charge at her. "I said stop!" She warns her again.

"I can't watch this anymore!" Alex yells, "You're going to hurt yourself!" She screams at the girl. "Stop!" The girl ignores her and continues to fight Nikita. Alex continued to watch from a distance. "Division is evil, but it's only as evil as the people running it." She concludes. "You got to stop fighting Nikita! Amanda is the real threat." Nikita blocks the girl's attacks and twists her arm around. Alex gasps in shock. "No!" She knew what was about to happen. She remembers how this is going to end and she could feel the pain crawling up her own arm.

"Remember this." Nikita says. "I did this because I care!"

"No!" Alex yells again, "You don't have to do this!" But it was too late. Nikita breaks the girl's arm and throws her to the ground.

* * *

Alex starts to scream. "I'm so sorry!" Tears running down her face. "I remember now! I should've listened to you, Nikita. Amanda was using me."

"She's starting to remember now." Michael says, relaxing.

"I was her puppet. She wanted control of Zetrov." Alex says. "I can't let her control me…"

"Good Alex. Now think, what did Amanda do to you?" Nikita asks.

Alex starts to breathe rapidly again. "Her heart rate is going up again!" Birkhoff screams. "I think she's running again."

"Alex, you can't do this anymore. You got to stop running!" Nikita says.

"I'm not running!" Alex argues in her dream state.

"Yes you are." Nikita says, calmly. "You escaped the brothel and you've been running ever since. You've never dealt with your past."

"I don't like to think about it."

"Well, you're gonna have to because it's only going to get worst."

"What if I can't?"

"You have to try to heal yourself, Alex. The only way you can do that is by facing your past." Nikita says. "Alex, you have the key in your hands. Only you have the power to use it. But you need to take control, use that key to face the truth! Stop running and remember who you are!"

"Her heart rate is elevated." Birkhoff begins to panic. "Nikki, are you sure it's a good idea to have her-"

Nikita looks at him. "Yes, Nerd. She needs to face her demons."

"What if it's too much to handle?" Michael asks. "We need to keep her stable."

"She's not stable." Nikita glances at him. "She needs to do this." She looks at Alex again. "You can do this okay, don't give up."

"She's running again!" Birkhoff yells, looking at Alex's heart rate skyrocket on his computer.

Sean glances at Birkhoff and back to Alex. She was hyperventilating. "Alex!" Sean yells, "Where are you going?"

"I need to find the truth!" Alex shouts.

* * *

Alex starts running down the ally. She opens another door and it leads her to a room with Amanda.

"Hello Alex, I was expecting you."

She stops, frozen in her tracks. "Amanda…" Amanda smiles at her. "What is this…" Alex questions.

"Alex, what is Amanda doing there?" Nikita exclaims. "You need to get rid of her."

Alex starts to back away. "Stay away from me!" She shouts at Amanda.

"Where are you going, Alex?" Amanda asks her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"No!" Alex screams. "You… you did something to me, didn't you?" She says, shaking her head. Alex glares at her. "You drugged me!" Amanda smiles at her.

"You're starting to remember…" Amanda says. Her voice mixed with Nikita's. Alex backs up against a wall. "Nikita." Alex says. "No, I won't let you control me Amanda!" She panics.

Suddenly, Amanda morphs into Nikita's image. Alex closes her eyes and shakes her head. "You're playing mind games. This isn't real."

"Alex, you need to get out of there!" Nikita exclaims. "It's not safe there, wherever you think you are, you can't let Amanda get to you."

"I need to get out of here!" Alex screams. She opens her eyes. "Stay away from me!" She shouts at Amanda. "You did something to me… tell me what you did!"

"I didn't do anything to you, Alex. You made these choices with your own free will." Amanda replies.

Alex looks around, she was back at Division. "No! I never wanted this!"

"That's right. This was Nikita's idea." Amanda glances toward ops. "You never wanted to run Division." Alex also glances toward ops. She sees the whole team standing around the round table. "You think it should be shut down." Amanda stares at Alex. "Tell me, did she even ask you first?"

"No… but-" Alex shakes her head.

"This isn't the first time, she's kept things from you." Amanda says.

"What are we going to do about Alex?" She suddenly hears Ryan say her name from the round table. "She tried to kill you."

"She's no longer our Alex." Michael says, walking up to him. "There's only one thing we can do now."

"We have to kill her." Nikita says. "Before she can kill one of us."

"What?" Alex exclaims. But they didn't hear her. "No! You can't do this!" She glares at Amanda. "Get out of my head! This isn't real." She screams. "None of this is real! You're trying to manipulate me. I won't let you!"

"Alex!" She hears Nikita's real voice shout her name. "Amanda is playing mind games. You need to get out of there. Remember that girl? You left her all alone, you need to find her." Nikita says.

"What girl?" Alex questions. "There is no girl. She doesn't exist." She glares at Amanda, while trying to back away. "Get out of my head!"

"She does, Alex. She's a part of you. Look deeper." Nikita replies. "You can find her."

"You can't run Alex, not from me."

"NO!" Alex screams! She starts to run again, trying to reach for a door on the other side of the room. "It's locked!" She shouts. Walls emerge from the ground, surrounding her. "There's no way out! Amanda has me trapped!"

"Fight her, you can break down the walls!" Nikita exclaims.

Alex starts pounding on the walls, crying. "Let me out of here!" She screams.

"I can't let you escape Alex." Amanda says. "You know how bad Division is."

"No! Get out of my head!"

"Break down the walls Alex!" Nikita encourages her. "You can do this! Come back to us."

"You can't fight me, Alex." Amanda taunts her. "Division is evil. You can't trust Nikita, she killed your father. You need to stop her from sacrificing more innocent lives."

"She had no choice!" Alex argues. "It was self-defense. I understand that now." She cries. "Nikita would never hurt me… I need to get out of here." Alex bangs on the walls some more.

"There's always a choice." Amanda counters.

"There's no way out!" Alex screams again.

"There's no going back, Alex." Amanda says. "Nikita is using you to fight her war. You're just a pawn."

"NO! I don't want to go back! I want to move forward!" Alex screams, turning around to bang on the door.

"Use the key, Alex. It's the only way to escape Amanda's claws." She hears Nikita say. "You're stronger than this! You're a fighter, you're a survivor. You can survive this too."

Alex takes out the golden key the girl had dropped. It shakes in her hand. The walls around her start to move forward, threatening to crush her.

"There is no future, not with Division around. You need to stop them." Amanda says. "It's time to fight your own battles. You don't need Nikita."

"Alex, come back to us!" Nikita yells.

* * *

"We're so close!" Michael shouts "Come on Alex, you can do this. Come back to us!"

"How is Amanda manipulating her in a dream?" Owen exclaims.

"I don't know." Nikita looks at Alex, stunned. "Amanda has a powerful hold on her."

"What the hell did she do to her in Romania?" Michael exclaims. He looks at Alex again.

"It's the drug." Birkhoff announces. Alex was stuck with her for days. "Her mind must be conditioned to follow a certain path."

"Amanda must have planned for this contingency." Michael says. "She must have had Alex's mind build these roadblocks for her to control."

"How is that possible?" Sean shouts.

"Amanda is smart." Nikita admits. "But I believe in Alex." She looks at everyone in the room. "We've come this far and look what we've achieved in a short amount of time." They all stare back at her in silence. "Amanda's plan was to distort Alex's memories and twist her experiences to use as a weapon against her."

"That's why Alex said she was having trouble adjusting to being back." Sean realizes.

"Her mind is stuck in the past." Michael concludes. "She thinks Division is the same as before, only she's connecting different dots to different events that Amanda has rearrange."

"Exactly. It started with the night I disabled her in that ally." Nikita remembers. "I know it was over the top, shooting her in the leg like that… but she has to know I only did that because I care."

"Yeah, nothing says I love you like a bullet to a non-essential area right Nikita?" Birkhoff jokes. Nikita rolls her eyes.

"Alex remembers more things about her past now." Michael says to her. "Amanda's conditioning can only go so far." Nikita looks at him. "Alex said she was sorry, she remembers what happened now. She just needs to put the pieces together and break free. She has the key, she just needs to use it."

"But these roadblocks…" Nikita says. "Amanda has her mind trapped."

"Alex is strong. She's defeated her mind games before. She can do it again. She just needs a little guidance." Michael tries to reassure her.

Nikita gives him a small smile and glances back at Alex.

Sean gently pushes Nikita aside and steps up to Alex, grabbing her hand. "Alex, can you hear me?"

"Sean?" Alex asks. "I need you to find a way to open that door."

"There's no future." She says, feeling defeated. "I'm tired of running. I'm tired of this war. I want to go home." She cries.

Sean looks at her, squeezing her hand. "No, don't listen to Amanda. You have a future… with us, with me. This is your home, Alex. Come back to me."

* * *

Alex could feel Sean's hand. It was like he was guiding her. "Use the key, Alex. Come back to me." He says.

Her hand shakes as she positions the the key in the lock. "I can't do this."

"That door won't lead you to freedom, Alex." She hears Amanda say. "Just another room."

"What?" Alex questions.

"The more you try to get out, the more you'll realize there will always be another room."

"Alex!" Sean shouts. "Don't listen to Amanda. What are you scared of? Open the door!"

"I'm scared of what's behind this door." Alex replies. "There's no future… not for me. Just another room..."

The walls were coming towards her faster. Alex starts to panic. Her heart rate climbing.

* * *

"Alex!" Sean yells, looking at Birkhoff.

"She's going to go into cardiac arrest if she can't calm down." He shouts, jumping up from his chair. "What does Amanda have on her? Why can't she open the door?"

"There is no future!" Alex screams again. "I need to get out of here!"

Michael and Nikita glance at each other, worried. Alex needed to stop running from Division.

"We're losing her. We can't let her run away again!" Owen yells. "As long as she keeps running, Amanda has control over her."

"She'll still be conditioned to destroy us once she wakes us and forgets we even tried to help her." Birkhoff says with a sad face.

"Will she really forget all that we've done for her?" Sean questions. "There must be some part of her, deep down that can hold onto this even if we don't succeed right now." He looks at Alex. "She can't revert back. All this can't be a waste. She has to remember who she is!"

"Sean, you need to convince her she has a future." Michael says. "She loves you, she'll trust you." Sean looks at him.

"I agree, you're the only one she'll listen to." Nikita says.

"What about you? She loves you too." Sean argues.

Nikita sighs and shakes her head. "Right now, I'm too much of a wild card. But you, you're a loophole." Sean looks at her confused. "Everything that Alex has done since we got her back was because she believed anyone and anything that had to do with Division was evil." She looks at Sean and smiles. "But you were never really apart of Division. At least not officially."

"She told me, the first day she woke up after we found her at that staging area, that her _memories are a little messed up right now…_" Sean quotes. _"I don't remember how I got here or what happen, and I don't remember exactly what went on between us…" _He remembers her telling him. "I told her that I would always be there for her and she said she believed me despite not really remembering all that we've been through." His face sunk. "All this time… here, in the woods, Paris… she had no clue who I was to her." He looks up at everyone in the room. "How could she love a stranger?"

"But you're not a stranger." Michael replies. "Amanda may have twisted her memories of you and us but when you told her that you loved her, I saw it in her eyes. She believed you. She's holding onto that feeling and that's the only thing that hasn't completely broken her."

Sean glances at Alex. Her breathing came in uneven gasps.

"Guys…" Birkhoff speaks up. He glances at her heart rate monitor.

Nikita ignores him and steps up to Sean. "Listen, do you still love her?"

"Yes." Sean says without a doubt. "Always and forever." He smiles.

Nikita smiles back, "Then tell her that. Tell her again, over and over until she can say it back. Convince her she can still have a future."

Sean steps up to Alex. He looks her in the eyes. "Alex… can you still hear me?"

"Sean." She mumbles. Her eyes shift towards him. "The walls… they're coming closer." Alex's heart rate ticks up more. "I have to run, I need to get out of here."

"No, no more running." Owen says. He looks at Sean. "It's now or never. Convince her before it's too late."

"Hurry, she's going to explode!" Birkhoff yells. Alex's increasing heart rate was disturbing and Birkhoff was on the edge of his seat.

Sean panics, grabbing Alex's shoulders. He shakes her. "I love you Alex. I want to have a future with you! We can have a future together." Her eyes stare back at him, still in her dream world. "You need to fight this! Don't let Amanda control your future. Only you can control your future." He shouts at her. "I love you, I'll always love you. I don't care how many times I have to tell you that for you to remember, but you need to know the truth. There's always going to be a future for you, you have to believe that. Come back to me."

As Sean shook her, the walls began to crack. Alex's eyes shut close. "This isn't real." She says. "Things like this don't happen in the real world, there's no happy endings."

"No, I won't let you go. Not again, I can't lose you too." Sean exclaims. "Come back to me!"

"This isn't real" She repeats. "I want out of here!"

"Alex!" Sean screams at her.

* * *

Alex jolts awake, breaking her restraints. "I want out of here!" She shouts, ripping her IVs out.

She tries to run again but Sean grabs her. "Alex!" He yells as they stumble to the ground. He struggles to hold onto her tightly.

Michael kicks a medical cabinet in anger. "We were so close!"

"Hold on, she's still hallucinating." Nikita says.

"Everybody back up." Owen commands.

Sean gently rocks Alex back and forth in his arms. He whispers softly into her ear. "Alex, I know you can hear me."

"Sean." Alex barely manages to say as she reaches for the door.

"It's me." He agrees. Alex starts to calm down. "I know this is scary, I know you want to run, but you can't keep running away from your problems." He brushes her hair aside, "I know you, Alex. You've gone through some horrible things, things you want to forget. Things you have forgotten, but you need to remember. You're stronger than this. You're the strongest person I've ever met. The things you've done, everything… It made you who you are. I need you to remember who you are."

He continues to rock her until she stops fighting him. Alex's heart rate had returned to normal. "The door..." She mumbles as her eyes close and she falls back to sleep.

"I think we should give her a break." Michael says. "She's had enough for one day, let her rest."

Nikita looks at Alex one last time, "She's still in there."

"I know she is." Michael places a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Nikita. We can still find her."

"Finding her isn't the hard part." Nikita looks at him.

He raises his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"We've already found her, but she's trapped in her own world. It's the saving her part that's the hardest."

"Then we will save her too."

"How can we save her when she can't even save herself?"

"She will. She has defeated Amanda's mind games before. Alex is a good girl." Michael tries to reassure her. "Let her rest. She's been running for so long, she needs a break."

"I don't want to leave her." Nikita argues.

"You have to give her some room to breathe." Michael says.

Nikita watches as Sean lifts Alex back onto her bed. She finally looked peaceful, her heart rate had returned to normal again and her breathing was stable.

Sean glances at Nikita and Michael. "You guys go. I'll stay with her."

"Come on Nikita." Owen agrees. "Sean can keep an eye on her."

Nikita nods and they all leave the room.

Sean sighs and grabs Alex's hand again. He stared at her intently, willing her to overcome her demons.

"I'm not going anywhere, Alex." He whispers to her. "I'm not going to lose you too."

* * *

"Sean." Alex says as she finally reaches the door. When she opens it, a bright light blinds her.

Alex awakens in the comfort of her bed in her apartment. "Sean?" She asks when she see him. He had opened the curtains of the window, shining the sun in her face.

Alex blinks, shielding her face. "Sorry." He says, "Sun too much for you?"

"No… what are you doing here?" She asks, confused.

"It's my day off, I wanted to spend it with you, sleepy head."

"I don't understand… what's going on… I thought I was dreaming?"

"Wow, you're a sight to see in the morning."

"Why do I feel like I have a hangover." She says, holding her head. "What happen last night?"

"You don't remember?" Alex shakes her head. "You got a little frisky last night and tried to attack me."

"What?" Alex laughs. "No way."

"Just kidding." He craws into bed with her. "What's wrong?" He asks, noticing she was still acting weird.

She looks at him. "Promise me something?"

"Right now, anything." He says looking into her eyes.

"Promise me this isn't a dream…. I'm gonna wake up from tomorrow?" She says. Sean looks at her confused. "You here, with me… I thought you were gone forever. It's too good to be true."

"I could never leave you." He replies.

"But you did." She says, unable to look at him. "Once…"

"Why are you having doubts now?" Sean asks, trying to find her eyes. "I'm here now, that's all that matters."

"I don't know. Ever since I woke up, I've had this feeling. That something is not right. Weird dreams that don't seem like dreams at all. People telling me I've forgotten things, things that I know I would have remembered. And then finally I see you, and everything looks happy and normal. Proof that I'm not crazy!" She looks at him again. "I don't know what to do, what it all means."

"Alex, you're not crazy." Sean replies.

"This doesn't seem real at all." She says staring off into space. "I need to wake up. I need to go back and find the key."

He shakes her out of it. "You're not dreaming, Alex. This is real. I'm real."

"How do you know?" She asks him, scared.

"Because we're together." Sean replies, staring into her bright blue eyes. "And as long as we're together, I know this is real. I love you, Alexandra Udinov. You're as real as it could possibly get." He smiles.

"How could you love me? I'm not like most people." He looks at her, unable to find the words to reply. "Most people haven't seen their father murdered before their eyes." She says, tears starting to form. "Most people aren't sold into slavery. I'm not most people. Never have been."

"No, I know. I should've known that."

"Yeah, you should've." She cries.

"Are you angry?" He asks.

Alex sighs, "Yes. But not at you… I could never be mad at you."

Sean leans down to kiss her. She pulls away. "I can't do this. This can't be real."

"Alex, I don't care if you're not like most people. You're better than most people. I don't just love most people, I love you." He looks her in the eyes. "I just want my girl back."

Alex looks at him, searching his eyes. She relaxes and smiles. "I love you too, Sean."

* * *

Sean was watching Alex sleep. He prayed she would come back to him. "I love you, Alex." He whispers, hoping she would somehow hear him. "I'd do anything to see your pretty little blue eyes again." He smiles at the thought. "Please, wake up…"

Suddenly he's surprised to hear her speak. "I love you too, Sean." She says.

"Alex?" He says, shocked to hear her say those five words to him. Her eyes were still closed. "Wake up, Alex." He says grabbing her hand. "Come back to me." She wasn't moving. Sean became nervous, he had to hear her voice again. "Alex, can you hear me?" He starts to gently shake her. "Wake up..."

Alex slowly opens her eyes and smiles at him. "Hey."

"You're awake!" Sean exclaims, hugging her.

"Yeah, I am…" She says confused, looking around. "What hap-"

"I thought, I lost you."

"What?" Alex asks, confused again. Sean looks at her, scared that she wouldn't remember him again. "What is it?" She says sitting up.

"Do you remember what happened to you?" He asks.

"I… uh I don't know…" Alex says, frowning. She shook her head, trying to think.

Sean didn't like the sound of this. "What is your last memory?" He asks her worriedly. He needed to approach this situation cautiously in case she snapped again.

"I don't know if this is a memory." She says looking at him. "But I had this weird dream… it didn't seem like a dream at all..."

"What happen in your dream?"

Alex tried to think. She saw a flash of Amanda in the warehouse in Romania and a mirror. "Romania… I was on a mission. I think you were there?"

"It wasn't a dream, Alex. It was real." Sean confirms.

"Amanda. She did something to me!" Alex screams, remembering.

"You remember!" Sean exclaims.

"I attacked you all! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, you weren't yourself."

"No! That's no excuse!" Alex screams, jumping from the bed. She starts to panic. "Oh my god, Nikita! I had a knife to her throat!" She looks at Sean scared. "I didn't-"

"No, she's fine! You didn't kill her." Sean says, grabbing her shoulders. "Calm down."

"This is too much, I remember everything! I have to go back… I have to find that girl, I left her all alone!"

"What are you talking about?"

"There was this girl…" Alex says. Flashes of her dream ran through her mind. "I have to find her!" She turns and heads toward the door, trying to open it.

"Alex, wait!" Sean screams at her. "Stop! You're still-" It was too late, Alex ran out the door. _"Not again."_ Sean thinks to himself. This time he wasn't letting Alex go so easily, he ran out the door chasing after her.

**Awwww Salex is so freakin adorable! Bonya is still my fave though haha anyway Alex is finally on her way back to normal...she still has some things to work out but shes getting better so that's good. You know we haven't heard from Amanda and JR for a while...I wonder what they are up to? Guess you're gonna have to wait and see ;) haha. Please review and tell us your thoughts on the chapter! Oh and here's your next question:**

**What cast member had a main roll in The OC?**

**Alright there ya have it! Please review and thanks for reading!**


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